The Vulnerable City: Architectonic Metaphors

Abstract

This article reflects on the phenomenon of Mexico City in the context of the study of urban risks and vulnerabilities. The first step towards recognizing the risks faced by a city is understanding its origins. It is often said that a city is a text. Does the city communicate? To the extent that it tells us something – or that we learn or know how to read the city – it should have a lexicon, a language or perhaps a glossary. Let us imagine that we understand this language thanks to analysis, evolution and the study of its context: does the place describe, does it write? As Derrida has argued, writing is a way of dwelling.