City Identity

What gives a city its identity? For example, what makes San Francisco, you know, San Francisco? Is there any one thing? Is it the geography, the architecture, the demography or the weather? Is it its history, culture, landmarks or crime rate? If one of those aspects were to change, would San Francisco still be San Francisco?

This question has been in the back of my head for a while. It first came to mind as I sat in a park in downtown San Jose and tried my hardest to trick myself into believing I was sitting somewhere else, like San Francisco or Boston or Vienna, but it was impossible. I've been around this city too long. It's difficult not too associate certain buildings with it or attribute a personality to it.

The question came about when I saw a news report about New Orleans and other towns still devastated from the floods caused by Hurricane Katrina. During the piece, the reporter and the people he interviewed emphasized the connection between jazz and the city, saying something to the effect that as long as they played jazz there, the spirit of New Orleans would survive.

At first, I thought they were oversimplifying, but then I realized that these people were attempting to hold on to the last shred of their city's identity. The rest had been washed away with the floodwaters. It made me wonder what aspects of a city could change without it losing its identity.

If they rebuilt New Orleans exactly as it was before, but replaced the jazz musicians with grunge bands, would it still be the same place? Would its identity remain if they rebuilt every street and structure exactly as it was, relocated every resident and played jazz every night in the new French Quarter, but did it all in Oregon instead of Louisiana? Or could they rebuild the city, but repopulate it with folks from New York City without minimal effect? Would it slowly become another New York City or would it become some blend of the two (New Yorkleans)?

All of this is more aimless rambling than an attempt to answer the question. Once I finish the stack of books I'm reading, I'll delve more into it either online or at the library. Until then, I just wanted to write down a few thoughts here, figuring this will be easier to retrieve than a scrap from the paper piles that regularly erupt around the house.