Urban Culture Transcends Borders
/My urban journey has gone from Kabul to Amsterdam to Cape Town and as I lived in these very different places, I became fascinated with the rise of cities. I was provoked to develop a theology of the city, which I have reflected in my book, 'Seeing the City With the Eyes of God'.
Here is what I learned about urban culture:
Urban cultures are like mountain tops... everything flows down from there to smaller towns and rural areas regardless of national borders and language differences.
Urban cultures are trend setters. What happens in cities today happens in the rest of the world 5 and 10 years from now.
Urban cultures are multi-ethnic. When I moved to Amsterdam there were 114 languages spoken in the city. Today, there are more than 180 languages spoken there.
Vast segments of worldwide urban culture identify with American youth culture via TV, music and movies.
This identification is producing a hostility and backlash in certain parts of the world, namely the Middle East and the Muslim world.
Urban young adults are vastly different from their rural counterparts.
Urban sub-cultures are like villages stacked on top of each other, connecting via ethnic similarity and language, not urban geography.
Cities have personalities... some are financial centers, some are fashion and cultural trend setters, and still others are the center of gravity for spiritual appetite and curiosity.