Disconnected Urbanism Response/Summary

In the article “Disconnected Urbanism”, Paul Goldberger states his disagreement with technology on the basis that it homogenizes the world and makes traveling less ‘special’. Goldberger talks about how when someone is talking on the phone they are no longer at the place they are in, and they are really transported to a virtual world. He argues that technology makes public places more private, and gives the places less meaning. Goldberger also talks about how in the olden days people would have to send letters overseas in order to communicate and now people get upset when they have to fax something rather than e-mail. With everyone talking on cell phones, Goldberger says, we are experiencing a loss of culture.

I think there were a few things that Goldberger failed to touch on in this article. First of all, he did not mention how technology helps us to experience all cultures whenever we want in the blink of an eye. In my opinion, technology has done what many thought was impossible: The ability to be in a new place, while still experiencing your favorite parts of other places. I do agree with the fact that technology can interrupt tranquil moments and be a nuisance at times, but when used discreetly it allows people to experience a plethora of different things at once which I believe to be quite stimulating to society. I think that Goldberger focused in on the negative impacts of technology on culture (which of course there are many) and didn’t talk about the positives at all. Transporting to a virtual world may disconnect people for a moment, but the virtual world has so much culture on its own. While I agree that technology can be overused, I believe that it has allowed humans to explore culture even more in depth rather than compromising it.