Greetings From... Extreme Cities

First I want to research cities that exist in extreme locations and discover how the local community cope in such the challenges. I have started by researching cities in extreme locations and cities that reflect or make use of the environment they are built in.

The first city I came across is the city of Cuenca in Spain that is known as the walled city and has building carved out of the rock face of the gorge it is situated on. The city displays some amazing architecture and is well known for its 'hanging houses' carved into the rock as well as the remains of the Arab built castle that was partly destroyed by French soldiers in the 19th century. Muslim Arabs captured the city in 714 and built the castle after realising the city's strategic value. The city manufactured textiles and started to become prosperous. It could be interesting to create a juxtaposition between the city textile industry and military importance with a backdrop of amazing architecture.

Next I discovered the city of Harbin that has the most severe winters of all the cities in China. The city is well known for its ice sculpture festival and is known as the 'ice city'. The city started out as a small rural settlement on the Songhua River. The region was mostly populated with immigrants form the Russian empire. In the 1920's the city was seen as the capital of fashion in china as new designs from Paris and Moscow arrived there before they got to Shanghai. The combination ice sculptures and fashion could make for some very interesting imagery. A cool icy backdrop to bold colours of new fashions.

I have been trying to find different elements to look for in each city. I have searched the internet for mountain cities and floating cities and have struggled to find what I was looking for but have come across things I didn't expect along the way. I want to stay away from the usual famous cities that people would look at as holiday destinations.

I then found the city of Fez in Morocco. The city was built on the Jawhar River in 789. Another site was built on the opposite side of the river and they soon became almost completely autonomous spending larhe periods of time in conflict with one another. Until the 19th century it was the only place making fez hats that were also called tarboosh. The original dye for the hats was made from berries that grew outside the city. Fez was a manufacturing location for embroidery and leather goods. Fashion and fabric manufacturing is a huge part of all three cities. Another interesting thing about Fez is that a large area of the city is completely car free. A beautiful part of Fez is the Tannery dye pits that are still used today.

The Indian city of Jodhpur is the next city I have chosen. The city is immediately striking due to the  Mehrangarh Fort that towers over it and large swathes of buildings painted blue. The city is known as the 'Sun City' and the 'Blue City' due to its climate and painted buildings. The city's main industry's are described as handicrafts and the city manufactures textiles and inks among other things.

I want to rough up some ideas based on these cities, their history and industries. I think they all have elements that could help me produce some striking imagery and they should contrast well against each other.