Concrete is portrayed as omnipresent in contemporary cities and as a material that carries political meaning through its widespread use. Cobblestone streets are imagined as a way to improve watering, help trees thrive, and allow people to interact with the ground by lifting and repositioning stones. Concrete is described as a symbol of decay and as the default solution for many urban problems, including homogenizing city appearance, repairing sidewalks, filling tree pits, and patching leaks in artificial fish ponds. Concrete is not eternal; it wears down, accumulates debris, cracks, and breaks. Constant renewal creates a cyclical pattern that ties cities to cement companies.
"I wish New York had cobblestone streets, like in Spain. They [would make it easier] to water the city, the trees would thrive and, on top of that, people could interact with them: lift the stones, reposition them, move them around."
"I think it's something very political that people don't realize is political. The film reflects on the omnipresence of concrete (the second-most-used material on the planet, after water) and how it has become both a symbol of decay and the dominant landscape of any contemporary city."
"The filmmaker addresses the tendency to solve any urban planning problem with concrete, be it to homogenize a city, repair sidewalks, fill tree pits, or patch up artificial fish ponds when there's a leak. But this material isn't eternal: it wears down, gets covered in chewing gum (gum is like the birdshit of people, Wilson remarks, in the documentary's voiceover), and also cracks and breaks."
"The constant renewal [of concrete] creates a cyclical pattern, as if cities maintain a lifetime subscription model with cement companies, the director adds. This idea of what endures and what cracks is repeat"
Read at english.elpais.com
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