Does Globalisation Mean the Loss of Distinct Urban Identities? Exploring the 'Instagram Town'
It is common to look at a post on Instagram or Pinterest and not be able to fathom where in the world that person could be. With globalisation the spread of information has increased drastically to the point where there is little to no difference in information gathering and the spread of trends, so it seems that each main city looks the same. New York looks like Pretoria, which might look like Tokyo. And the style, behaviour, and feeling of identity of its people looks pretty much the same as well. At this point, it seems that your typical city could be anywhere in the world.
With the growth of social media, the traditional “fashion cities” no longer have the distinction of being up-to-date and world leading. As more people are looking to make sense of a world in polycrisis, they turn to “news” sites to become more informed, especially those on social media. The pre-established motives of TikTok, as well as the emergence of AI-generated news, mean that, whilst the entire world now has access to the same information, widely accepted facts seem to be blurring into fiction.
Sites such as these now mean that everyone across the world has access to insider knowledge on Paris fashion week and its participants. The easy accessibility of so-called ‘news outlets’ on social media means that everyone is equally informed as the next internet-user on leading world issues, or at least, as informed as they are told they are. As it seems that towns are no longer unique in their specialisation in certain aspects of society. It could be argued that the concept of a city is no longer as solid as it used to be – the world seems to have collapsed into one formless network of information.
With the growth of social media comes the rise of city stereotypes, but not quite how it used to be. There is the emergence of the "which city are you?" posts on Instagram, as well as the videos of "cities as outfits." These perpetuate common stereotypes in a new and creative way - something our generation is often praised for doing. Instead of simply saying, "New York is fashionable and Paris is the city of love," we start to see the rise of the "scandi style" and the conception of Maui, Hawaii as a city of love. These diversities, in a postcolonial world obsessed with evening the playing field, are surely only good in giving new areas the recognition they deserve. In personifying cities into aesthetics, as these Instagram posts do, they are given new life and a new audience, bringing with them a newfound love for the identity of a city they never would have previously considered.
Looking back in history, city stereotypes have never been fixed. The identity of Edinburgh, for example, has switched from a seat of influence for the English government during the time of the Act of Union to a tourist town and place of historical beauty. With each new generation comes a different epoch in the concept of "urban" as cities evolve to meet the needs of their populations - after all, the ability to perform the functions to protect its citizens is what Waltz defines as one of the key functions of a state. If a city has no fixed identity, how can one say that it has lost it - and how can one argue that it is a result of the negative impact of a new generation, when generational evolution is the entire reason that we are able to have this debate in the first place?
So the urban identity hasn't disappeared completely, it has just evolved with a new generation. Whilst it seems like the identity of the world is changing completely, it is arguably the same pattern that the world has been following since the archaic period - as we encounter more cultures, our worldview and identity shifts. It's healthy, it's natural, and it's ultimately necessary in the overarching scheme of the world. If we don’t agree on a global identity, would we even be able to call ourselves a social network?
Image courtesy of via Rhododendrites Wikimedia Commons, ©2019. Some rights reserved.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the wider St. Andrews Foreign Affairs Review team.
