The city which stood out the most to me was the city of Fedora. Besides the name that reminded me of the hat, Fedora had such an interesting and abstract approach to the construction of cities and desire. It was stated that the city takes on many forms based on historical “what-ifs” and this reminded me of the alternate timeline concept in the Black Mirror episode “Bandersnatch”. In a way, the alternate timeline concept is something that I relate to every city I’ve lived in, and in the case of Abu Dhabi I was thinking of how the smallest histroical detail could have changed how the city is constructed otday (i.e. if they never discovered oil). The city wasn’t particularly described in vivid detail, but was explained in a more abstract way, as inhabitants of the city can visit the metal building with the crystal globes and “choose the city that corresponds to his desires”. This can easily translate into a virtual environment through narrative, RPG games, virtual reality experiences, etc. I would be very invested in creating a virtual environment based on the choices that users make, and have different scenarios ready depending on these choices.
Time plays an important role in the construction of Fedora as a city, and in many ways the city depends on the passage and abstraction of time. I’ve always been fascinated by how timelines and reality could be altered by the slightest changes. The storyteller conveys that the city is a gray metropolis, but mentions that due to different choices people made over time, and how due to these choices the Medusa pond dried up, and elephants are banished from the city.
“Looking into each globe, you see a blue city, the model of a different Fedora. These are the forms the city could have taken if, for one reason or another, it had not become what we today”.