Worlds in the city: Manhattan transfer and the ascendance of spectacular space

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Abstract
Prompted by recent reports from the Asia Pacific of what will soon be the tallest buildings in the world, the paper examines the symbolic functions of architectural gigantism as part of a globally competitive display of economic virility and political power-between nations, cities and corporations as well as human subjects. Focusing on the image of the building as a polysemic, multifunctional cultural sign, the paper examines specific histories, societies and geographies in which representations of urban modernity have been constructed. It also addresses the various'worlds' to which these representations belong and the competing social and spatial orders in which they have been circulated. It argues that earlier symbolic representations of urban modernity in the West have become increasingly outmoded.

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