Shanghai school walks down the block on robot legs

[thomdunn]

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/11/05/shanghai-school-walks-down-the-block-on-robot-legs.html

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[stephen_schenck]

Watch huge building mechanically walk to its new location | Boing Boing

[aaooeeie]

Maybe it walked back.

[Mercenary_Garage]

[GulliverFoyle]

Watch huge building mechanically walk to its new location

Up next [Mortal Engines | The City of London Devours Bavaria for Fuel]

Sorry for replying here since the original thread is closed. I hadn’t seen that movie or read the book, but the concept reminds me of Greg Bear’s 1981 novella fix-up The Strength of Stones. The concept and the description of the roaming cities was fascinating to my teenage self, but I recall the plot being flimsy and the characters very poorly developed, so I can’t in good conscious recommend it.

Strength of Stones

Maybe I’ll check out Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines. Is it any good?

ETA: Looks like it was critically panned and that 8 minute scene was a slog, so I think I’ll at least pass on the movie. But in looking it up Reeve apparently had the idea for the story in the late 80’s, which leaves me wondering if he read Bear’s book.

[micah]

I imagine historic preservation is a lot easier in a city like Shanghai that has essentially no history prior to the twentieth century.

[anon61221983]

@micah

that has essentially no history prior to the twentieth century.

Shanghai

You’re being sarcastic, right? People have been living there for thousands of years, even if it was only recently made a city.

[Mercenary_Garage]

I haven’t read The Strength of Stones but it sounds similar Cities in Fight by James Blish.

Cities in Flight

[Mercenary_Garage]

Also, Inverted World by Christopher Priest features a moving city, this one being hauled on rails that are painstakingly built before it and then dismantled after it has passed over them.

Much better than Cities in Flight IMO.

Inverted World

[GulliverFoyle]

Cities in Fight actually sounds a lot better. Based on the WP description I’m put in mind of the Lensman series. Strength of Stones was more like Blood Music meets Bottle City of Kandor and truly abominably poor religious allegory.

Thanks for the reccos.

[ChuckV]

@anon61221983

You’re being sarcastic, right? People have been living there for thousands of years, even if it was only recently made a city.

Maybe poorly phrased rather than sarcastic? I think Shanghai took a hell of a lot of damage in WWII and there aren’t that many significant pre-WWII buildings left (discounting the buildings in the foreign concessions area perhaps.) Looked online a bit, but didn’t find anything conclusive.

[anon61221983]

Could be?

[micah]

Yes, people have indeed been living in that area for thousands of years. I shouldn’t have said there was no history. But there is hardly any pre-20th century history to be preserved.

Here’s a list of historic buildings in Shanghai, for example. Only six of them predate the 20th century, and half of those only barely make the cut.

List of historic buildings in Shanghai

[anon61221983]

@micah

But there is hardly any pre-20th century history to be preserved.

Doesn’t that assume that buildings are the only thing to be preserved? There is likely a lot more than people would think pre-20th century?

[micah]

The phrase “historic preservation” usually refers to preserving buildings or physical environment, and that’s certainly the context in which it’s used in the OP.

[anon61221983]

Yes, I’m aware, since I’m a historian (though historical preservation is not my field). None the less, there are plenty of other things that can be studied and even preserved (and sometimes rebuilt) other than buildings. Saying that there is very little worth studying or preserving prior to the 1920s, I’d still argue is erroneous. YMMV.