Chapter 07: Continuous Cities 01

In this continuous city, there are places we can never quite reach. It may be an abandoned house at the edge of the city or a mountain stream or river that winds through the city. But those places we can never quite reach are still there, waiting for us. We just have to have the patience to wait for them to reveal themselves.

In this continuous city, they’re easy to miss, but you can always tell when a place you’ve never been to before suddenly shows up. People have an instinct for the places that exist only in our minds, never in the city itself. We can tell when the city begins to reveal its hidden places. Buildings begin to wear a distinctive patina. Streetlamps begin to go out. Towns change.

The city itself changes in subtle ways. Sometimes, it surprises us with how quickly it can vanish. But the difference isn’t in how quickly a town fades, but how quickly a new town will appear and reshape the original. In this continuous city, the land resets. Towns can end, cities can be abandoned, places can become deserted.

Then the city will build anew, and we’ll make new discoveries.