An Approach to Urban Narrative: Analysis of Temporal Structure of Benjamin's Capital Theory

Abstract

Why today's urban experience and urban narrative could be traced back to Benjamin? If he is a precocious gambler who passed by a steel and glass building hundreds of years ago, and we are the modern individuals who later live in a complete illusion (phantasmagoria), then what we share with Benjamin is a variant of the same life at a different time. Walter Benjamin's theory of capital constructed a space-time structure, which not only contains the change of perception mode since modern times, but also reveals the psychological immanence of the modern appearance of the city. Benjamin's understanding of the new creation and ruins of the city has an irreplaceable theoretical role in how people read the city and how to construct the urban narrative.

Keywords

Benjamin / City / Flaneur / Arcades / Temporal structure

References

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