TOPOAESTHESIS AND PSYCHOGEOGRAPHIC FLOW

In Michel de Certeau's essay Walking in the City, there is an opening description of the view from 110th floor of the World Trade Centre in Manhattan. From there, de Certeau describes how the city can be seen as a whole - a unified image with a unified character, which is different, and in contrast to, the picture experienced by those at street level, which tends to be incomplete and fluctuating.

This high-angle view, though, is an illusion, constructed by planners, and removed from the city of the everyday. Although De Certeau focuses on New York, his point can be applied to the day to day life that takes place in all urban environments, it strikes me. Here's an aerial view of part of Stourbridge ring road:

See how, from this height, the 'planning' seems much clearer, though the everyday life of it - the topoaesthesis of it - you have to zoom right in to get at.

I'm thinking about narrative voice here, actually. I'm thinking about how narrative distance can create a similar illusion, and that staying slightly away, slightly higher up, perhaps, might be a way of showing the planning, the illusion of it.