La Ville Machine by Jacques Ferrier

 La Ville Machine

by Jacques Ferrier book published by L'Herne, will let us all think a lot. Substantially  I discovered that something became profoundly wrong and alienating in the so-called progress when we changed the windows, adding strongest, double windows-pan. For, of course, staying more warm. 

With horror I discovered that these glasses would have avoided also the hearing of "noises" from the outside world. 

Now: Living in a countryside, it was wonderful to hearing the little river's water, the frogs chanting in the night, the birds singing at dawn: that nature that, after a long night started a new day with energy and optimism. Maybe, in a city, not hearing sounds is pleasant, I don't doubt it, but here...

This book was born and written, after the advent of the pandemic and a climate crisis continuously more hard and strong to fight: so, re-thinking cities, and the model, built with the decades, is indispensible.

That the man is in grade of powerful auto-goal and that he damages himself, is more than known.

Cities built, from a certain time at this part are not anymore pleasant places where to live in, no, but real cages for men and women. The progress, and hyper-technology created with the time became reasons of a new slavery.We are prisoned of ourselves and what we built for being more happy, satisfied.

At first, energy, power, certain facilities made the difference for good, in the existence of people, changing their way of living, creating best life-condition: but it was time ago.

At the moment, mr Ferrier sees to the horizon a "technique imposée."

I hadn't never thought profoundly to the meaning of air conditioned as did the author, admitting that also the air that we breath is not anymore normal, but changed, conditioned in a word, altered: and if at first common opinion was that that air was the cleanest one, now it is known that breathing normal, natural air, is much better.

Everything, in our existence has been altered. Air conditioned has been one of the latest great developments, involving big spaces, cars, houses: at the same time with the advent of the XX century, cities changed again. No one thought anymore of building beautiful places, after all, resistant, but a similar and less diversified model of city, involving the entire world in this new way of living and thinking spaces. Lacking of originality, cities, with the time became real traps for men, always more imprisoned in a life dominated by electric tools of every sorta for cooking, backing, washing, cleaning: hot bottle of water became electric as well with the time! 

For sure, we understood pretty soon that the progress after all wasn't always positive when two nuclear bombs destroyed two japanes cities: Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Let's say that the enchantment ended and new and terrible reasons for being worried involved the Planet. 

What it is important to understand, remarks the author is that the man can't be imprisoned by....his same discoveries! 

What it is lived is not a good existence for the man who sees always new intruders in his privacy and existence: the new technologies, pcs, smartphone, are absorbing most of the time, and real interaction, with the outside world, importants and crucial are reduced. 

Jacques writes: "La règne de l'objectivité dans le design, revendiqué par la modernité, a tenu a distance le corps et l'imaginaire des citadins. Il est temps de revendiquer le retour de la subjectivité et du sensible."

Jean Giono great estimator of nature wrote once that: "Les hommes et le femmes qui habitent cette  ville sont devenus le corps meme de cette ville...Ils ne seront jamais plus alimentés de liberté, jamais plus."

What it is true is that three voices must walk along together without any predominance on man: the nature and its ecosystem, the ecosystem of the so-called technique, and the cité of the citizens. If these three voices will co-exist harmonically, then the man will be fine, and all the human beings, animals, plants included will live harmonically.

A great reading for sure, highly recommended. The style is accessible to everyone, and there is a complete reconstruction of modernity and progress, from the first inventions to the rampant technology seen later.

I thank L'Editions de L'Herne for the physical copy of this book.

Anna Maria Polidori