Urban Enactments

摘要

The relational richness displayed in Almodovar's 2006 Volver could never be explained as the result of the urban form of Vallecas, the neighborhood on the outskirts of Madrid where its main character (Raimunda) lives. Raimunda's urbanism overflows the limits of the city, expands into courtyards, kitchens, tupperwares, and cemeteries in Granatula de Calatrava, the tiny village where she was born. When seen in detail, Madrid's urban life is not the result of its urban tissue, neither of the first intentions that fueled the production of its architectures. To talk of the urbanisms that make Madrid active, rich and exciting, another way to account for the city is needed. Basically one that avoids seeing the "city" as a fixed patch in the land.