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Walls and Borders: The Range of Place

Walls and Borders: The Range of Place Bruce Janz University of Central Florida Apparently, the wall was something of an engineering miracle even prior to the events that exposed it to the light of day. People used to go down to the basement where part of it was visible, and marvel at its ability to resist 3,500 pounds per square inch of pressure over 3,300 feet. When it was called upon to bear even more it rose to the challenge, anthropomorphically speaking. Now it is being compared to the Liberty Bell, a physical object that symbolizes a signature and defining (albeit vastly different) event. This wall, built to hold back the Hudson River from flooding the basement of the World Trade Center, was once the foundation and physical site of a place, but has now itself be- come a place. It has transformed from site to situation. It is being written retrospectively as a humble and unglamorous object (the “bathtub”) that rose to be a noble, even heroic place, one which because of the “miracle” of superior engineering stood when every- thing else fell. This object which newly defines a place has become the classic American story of triumph over insurmountable odds. It has become personified, http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png City and Community SAGE

Walls and Borders: The Range of Place

Janz, Bruce
City and Community , Volume 4 (1): 1 – Mar 1, 2005
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References (18)

Publisher
SAGE
ISSN
1535-6841
eISSN
1540-6040
DOI
10.1111/j.1535-6841.2005.00104.x
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Bruce Janz University of Central Florida Apparently, the wall was something of an engineering miracle even prior to the events that exposed it to the light of day. People used to go down to the basement where part of it was visible, and marvel at its ability to resist 3,500 pounds per square inch of pressure over 3,300 feet. When it was called upon to bear even more it rose to the challenge, anthropomorphically speaking. Now it is being compared to the Liberty Bell, a physical object that symbolizes a signature and defining (albeit vastly different) event. This wall, built to hold back the Hudson River from flooding the basement of the World Trade Center, was once the foundation and physical site of a place, but has now itself be- come a place. It has transformed from site to situation. It is being written retrospectively as a humble and unglamorous object (the “bathtub”) that rose to be a noble, even heroic place, one which because of the “miracle” of superior engineering stood when every- thing else fell. This object which newly defines a place has become the classic American story of triumph over insurmountable odds. It has become personified,

Journal

City and Community – SAGE

Published: Mar 1, 2005

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