New Babylon: The Global City's Evolving Urban Lexicon

The second season of Cantiere Scandurra dedicates its fifth episode to the changing language of cities, exploring how terms like skyline, waterfront, rooftop, hub, and loft shape urban identity and social aspirations. Alessandro Scandurra argues that each era has a representative language, and contemporary urban vocabulary emerges from direct spatial experience. These words are not passive reflections but active tools in urban design, influencing perceptions and behaviors. The global city becomes a linguistic laboratory where terms born in one metropolis spread worldwide, adapting locally while carrying implicit hierarchies—some expressions gain prestige (district, hub, creative space), while street-born terms (graffiti, street food, underground) remain marginal yet vital. Language and architecture are inseparable; designing a space means also designing the words that accompany it, generating expectations and behaviors. The episode highlights how new generations demand accessible public spaces, sharing venues, and creative environments, which urban design can translate into physical realities like open rooftops, cultural hubs, student housing, coworking spaces, creative districts, and intergenerational neighborhoods. Scandurra emphasizes that inhabiting means naming, interpreting, and transforming space through words. The global city speaks a common lexicon, but it is through chosen words and realized projects that its voice is constructed.