more dichotomies

Barrie also presents a list of key phrases for understanding the Western city/Japanese city dichotomy:

• patchwork (against network)
• horizontal (more than vertical)
• piecemeal (versus integrated)
• decentralized (rather than centralized)
• shifting and cloud-like order (rather than fixed and clock-like)
• temporary (versus permanent or even eternal)
• flexible (more than fixed)
• content (against physical context)
• vague (as opposed to clear) boundaries between object (building or city) and surroundings
• areal (over linear and sequential) organization
• fragmentation (over integration)
• disconnection (over connection)
• transformation and metamorphosis (over the static or unchangeable)
• autonomy (over interdependence) of parts
• attention to details and fragments before wholes (more than wholes before parts)
• the flexible and indefinite (over the fixed and finite)
• superimposition and co-existence of unlike parts (over compromise and integration)

Kansugibashi - Hiroshige (1857) According to Barrie, this print helps summarize how the urban space is traditionally conceived in Japan: fragmented, complex, with a multitude of activities taking place. The framing, Barrie asserts, is also deliberately ambiguous, avoiding any one central subject