A fragmented world. City & Country | Day 1

Rebekka Zeinzinger and Irene Zanol from the literary podcast ‘Auf Buchfühlung’ report daily from the European Literature Days.

The artistic director, Walter Grond, opens this year's European Literature Days in the Minoritenkirche Krems with a reference to recent election results in Austria and the USA and voter flow analyses and asks: Do we live in a world that is, as it were, divided? In his opening statement, he notes a divide between the urban (liberal to left-wing orientated) and rural (conservative to right-wing orientated) population. According to Grond, one of the many attempts to explain this divide is that the village represents the losers of digital modernisation and is taking revenge on the liberal, globally oriented cities with scientific scepticism, irrationalism and hostility towards democracy. While some see the divide as a consequence of the transition from the industrial to the knowledge society, Grond points out that the urban-rural conflict has existed since people became sedentary, as evidenced not least by the history of literature. The next few days of the European Literature Days will be dedicated to literature as well as to the dialogue that is enthusiastically conducted here year after year.

This dialogue was opened by the philosopher Lisz Hirn (Vienna) and the writer Christoph Peters (Berlin). The discussion between the two was moderated by Katja Gasser (Vienna). Lisz Hirn referred to the attempt to explain the digitally disconnected rural population quoted by Walter Grond at the beginning and stated that she sees the divide more between the haves and the have-nots, i.e. as an economic issue. She expressed her discomfort with the phrase ‘fragmented world’, as it suggests that the world was once intact. Rather than looking for the reasons, it is worth asking how the tension can be utilised. Hirn sees potential in revitalising rural life, trying out new forms of living or implementing art projects.

Christoph Peters also emphasises that the division between town and country is no longer as simple as it once was. If he looks back to the Lower Rhine village of his origins, he says that it was still basically characterised by feudalism. However, without falling into a postmodern neo-longing for the countryside, it can be said that many things have become skewed since then, according to Peters, who cites capitalist industrial production as an example, which increasingly makes the sustainable production and marketing of food impossible. On the subject of communication, he has also realised that people in the countryside are much more forced to move in non-homogeneous groups, whereas the formation of bubbles is a much greater danger in the city.

Hirn and Peters agree that the rural population is by no means digitally left behind. The philosopher cites the example of farmers who, because they can no longer make a living from their agricultural production, convert their barns and rent them out via Airbnb, while Peters talks about his nephew who runs a cattle farm in the Rocky Mountains and performed a caesarean section on a cow with the help of a YouTube video.

At the end of the interview, Lisz Hirn emphasises once again that the moral ‘urban finger pointing’ is not appropriate, especially when it comes to the demand for an equal distribution of work between women and men. Much of this is not due to unwillingness, but to practical necessities. Changing this, for example by scrutinising for whom machines that we attribute a supposed neutrality to are actually built, is an important task. Because such questions harbour the possibility of shaping and empowering the world.

Katja Gasser ends the first part of the evening with the very fitting conclusion: ‘We can be sure that where there are people, there is the province.’

‘The city for everyone’ - Krems looks to London, Tokyo and Prague

Afterwards, presenter Rosie Goldsmith spoke with authors Rowan Moore (London) and Osamu Okamura (Liberec) about the fascination of cities and the particular challenges that urban space is currently facing. Three metropolises took centre stage as examples: London, Tokyo and Prague.

Around 75% of the world's population live in cities, which are generally regarded as centres of civilisation and culture and as the pinnacles of the man-made. It is therefore worth taking a closer look at what characterises an ideal city and what the specific features and problems of urban space are. In his presentation on Tokyo, the Czech-Japanese architect Osamu Okamura showed how one of the most densely populated cities in the world can also be one of the most functional and liveable urban spaces.

For the British journalist and architecture critic Rowan Moore, an ideal city is one that has the ability to unite differences and diversity. Cities are always incomplete and dynamic. They attract people, which inevitably leads to conflict. However, city centres are currently shrinking again - on the one hand because the population is getting older or moving away, and on the other hand due to phenomena such as increasingly location-independent working, which also holds great potential for London, for example - because housing is scarce.

This also highlights one of the biggest challenges identified by the panellists in this first impulse discussion: the (un)affordability of housing. In most large cities, the purchase of residential property has become unaffordable for a large majority. In Prague, according to Okamura, home ownership is the most expensive in Europe compared to the average income of the population. Vienna, which is unique in the world with its high proportion of municipal housing of around 60 %, is seen as a role model. In Prague, this proportion is only around 5%, despite the recent socialist past.

Last but not least, the sustainable reorganisation of cities and gentrification are among the most important topics for the future, which will certainly play a role in the discussions over the next few days.

A horizon-broadening exchange on this first evening of the European Literature Days 2024.