As I beamed across the lucid pool placed in the center of Santiago Calatrava’s marvel in the City of the Arts and Sciences, I could feel my jaw lower, and a quiet gasp emerge from my mouth. Having never been one to truly appreciate architecture or understand its complexity, I could not help to be awestruck by the bent arches, and whiteness everywhere. On the overcast and rainy day, the beam of brightness emerging from the structures caused my eyes to squint while trying to look at everything at once. I had finally arrived in Valencia’s proudest step forward to the changing world, and their apparent hopes of forcing the world to note that they are not only the third largest city in Spain, but connoisseurs of architectural risks and advancements.
However, it was not the awesomeness of the achievements of Calatrava that truly grabbed my attention (http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/c/santiago_calatrava/index.html). Although his buildings were fabulous aesthetically, my attention was focused on the changing culture of Valencia itself. If you cross the street, across from the El Saler, a massive shopping mall stacked with a McDonald’s, Carrefour, Footlocker, H&M, Zara, and just about any other globalized store one could possibly fathom, you find yourself standing on the sidewalk of a major high-way. At the tip of the massive intersection, you find a rare traffic circle, and further down the road you see a gateway leading into the industrialized and developed metropolis of Valencia that emerged from the construction of architectural haven. As you look out, the view beholds the great urbanized city consisting of the largest aquarium in Europe, a marvelous Opera house, a gigantic science center, and even beautiful buildings that serve no purpose whatsoever. One could truly be overwhelmed and floured by this new city that in retrospect has emerged overnight.
Then as you turn around, turning your back to the traffic and closing your eyes to globalization at the El Saler, you find yourself starring at a worn down home literally being shaded by the sidewalk. As you walk closer to the edge, it reminds of a small home in between skyscrapers that refused to sell their property. Yet, as you look beyond the sidewalk, and the dilapidated home, you see that the rest of the land for miles is no longer affected by the urbanization of the city. It is like you are in a completely different place with just the slight turn of your shoulders. Within your ninety degree turn, you are now watching a man using rudimentary tools to harvest his crops and care for his land without advanced technology. And you cannot help but ask, what is this place?
Valencia is one of the most unique cities in Spain not because of its architectural advancements, but its intangibility as a nation. Clearly, this port city is changing, and that is one of the truest definitions of a nation. They are imagined communities, they hold true to the values and morals of those who inhabit the place. Valencia, although it is making its future a priority, is not quick to throw away their agricultural identity or the fact that they are the largest port on the Mediterranean Western Coast. The city is prized for their oranges and its other main exports include furniture, ceramic tiles, fans, textiles, and iron products. The city is known for its paella, where rice is homegrown in fields and is now used today as a tourist attraction that holds true to their cultural identity (http://www.valencia.es/). Valencia as an imagined community not only captures its architectural influence as a Mediterranean city, but also prizes the traditions that have made it successful for centuries and has distinguished the city from Barcelona and other cities in Spain. Consequently, when Valencia was emerging as an urbanized Spanish city, citizens decided that there were certain areas that would not be urbanized by the community; areas that would capture where Valencia came from. Before visiting Valencia I never understood the true essence of an “imagined community”, however, when looking over the edge of the sidewalk to see a completely different Valencia, it captured the deepest essence of an imagined political community. Valencia is limited and sovereign in the fact that it has the capacity to move forward without losing the past, it is ever changing, and using tradition to shape the city it is today. As a traveler, and as limited a traveler as I might be, having the ability to witness an accurate imagined community was a rare experience that I think I will remember forever.
However, it was not the awesomeness of the achievements of Calatrava that truly grabbed my attention (http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/c/santiago_calatrava/index.html). Although his buildings were fabulous aesthetically, my attention was focused on the changing culture of Valencia itself. If you cross the street, across from the El Saler, a massive shopping mall stacked with a McDonald’s, Carrefour, Footlocker, H&M, Zara, and just about any other globalized store one could possibly fathom, you find yourself standing on the sidewalk of a major high-way. At the tip of the massive intersection, you find a rare traffic circle, and further down the road you see a gateway leading into the industrialized and developed metropolis of Valencia that emerged from the construction of architectural haven. As you look out, the view beholds the great urbanized city consisting of the largest aquarium in Europe, a marvelous Opera house, a gigantic science center, and even beautiful buildings that serve no purpose whatsoever. One could truly be overwhelmed and floured by this new city that in retrospect has emerged overnight.
Then as you turn around, turning your back to the traffic and closing your eyes to globalization at the El Saler, you find yourself starring at a worn down home literally being shaded by the sidewalk. As you walk closer to the edge, it reminds of a small home in between skyscrapers that refused to sell their property. Yet, as you look beyond the sidewalk, and the dilapidated home, you see that the rest of the land for miles is no longer affected by the urbanization of the city. It is like you are in a completely different place with just the slight turn of your shoulders. Within your ninety degree turn, you are now watching a man using rudimentary tools to harvest his crops and care for his land without advanced technology. And you cannot help but ask, what is this place?
Valencia is one of the most unique cities in Spain not because of its architectural advancements, but its intangibility as a nation. Clearly, this port city is changing, and that is one of the truest definitions of a nation. They are imagined communities, they hold true to the values and morals of those who inhabit the place. Valencia, although it is making its future a priority, is not quick to throw away their agricultural identity or the fact that they are the largest port on the Mediterranean Western Coast. The city is prized for their oranges and its other main exports include furniture, ceramic tiles, fans, textiles, and iron products. The city is known for its paella, where rice is homegrown in fields and is now used today as a tourist attraction that holds true to their cultural identity (http://www.valencia.es/). Valencia as an imagined community not only captures its architectural influence as a Mediterranean city, but also prizes the traditions that have made it successful for centuries and has distinguished the city from Barcelona and other cities in Spain. Consequently, when Valencia was emerging as an urbanized Spanish city, citizens decided that there were certain areas that would not be urbanized by the community; areas that would capture where Valencia came from. Before visiting Valencia I never understood the true essence of an “imagined community”, however, when looking over the edge of the sidewalk to see a completely different Valencia, it captured the deepest essence of an imagined political community. Valencia is limited and sovereign in the fact that it has the capacity to move forward without losing the past, it is ever changing, and using tradition to shape the city it is today. As a traveler, and as limited a traveler as I might be, having the ability to witness an accurate imagined community was a rare experience that I think I will remember forever.
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