I think Neil Peart must have been reading some Lewis Mumford when he wrote this lyric. Mumford's masterpiece, The City in History, explores the dynamic of city growth. He weighs the pros and cons of organic city growth versus urban planning. He notes, specifically, how light is unique to every city's street. Mumford also has a lot to say about function and form in urban planning, which is a phrase that appears in another of Peart's lyrics on "Moving Pictures" (Vital Signs).
Mumford explores livability in the urban environment, studying things like commuter patterns right down to city tourism and how a city impacts a new visitor ("my feet catch the pulse and the purposeful drive").
Mumford also discusses how the urban form can bring comfort and security to a citizen and, despite the population density of urban living, the urban form is still an organic one; a natural place for human existence ("Pavements may teem with intense energy, But the city is calm in this violent sea."0
I think Neil Peart must have been reading some Lewis Mumford when he wrote this lyric. Mumford's masterpiece, The City in History, explores the dynamic of city growth. He weighs the pros and cons of organic city growth versus urban planning. He notes, specifically, how light is unique to every city's street. Mumford also has a lot to say about function and form in urban planning, which is a phrase that appears in another of Peart's lyrics on "Moving Pictures" (Vital Signs).
Mumford explores livability in the urban environment, studying things like commuter patterns right down to city tourism and how a city impacts a new visitor ("my feet catch the pulse and the purposeful drive").
Mumford also discusses how the urban form can bring comfort and security to a citizen and, despite the population density of urban living, the urban form is still an organic one; a natural place for human existence ("Pavements may teem with intense energy, But the city is calm in this violent sea."0