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Flows beyond the control of the city
The flow of goods, resources, and ideas, moves beyond the control of the city. The city becomes a node in international trade and capital flows, and it houses the subterranean economies of rival groupings, multiplied flows and counter-flows, traffic of all sorts. Outside notions and symbols arrive. Identities alter. Some of these changes are slow, but even groups that stay in power change unconsciously as they pass on and reinterpret their identities. The city is not Ours any more, and we are not sure who We are, since we are being re-read even by ourselves. Against such flows one cannot build a wall.