Our religious and social understandings of the city are influenced by strongly negative interpretations throughout the West's intellectual history. This is an insight from which to begin rethinking the religious meaning of the city, of which we have only told partial tales. But to tell the story we need new language. Today, even as the shapes of cities are rapidly changing, our informed reflection about what is occurring remains sparse. Architects, environmentalists, industrialists, politicians are more likely than theologians to proffer urban dreams.
Commerce is the way to do that, they claim.
Land development and tax-free zones raise property values. Economic shifts and new businesses destroy established but poor neighborhoods. Regentrification has a much different meaning for those of us who have been in the cities all along. Land use is driven by dollars while environmental concerns multiply. Urban planners seek to recreate the cities.