All cities are continuations of other cities. Virtually all are subject to the same neoliberal arrangements, so that whether or not the water supply is good or the electrical grid is reliable, you’ll still find Burger King and the Body Shop and H&M and IKEA. In any given city, as I wander around, there are moments of self-forgetfulness. Where am I? Is this São Paulo or Lagos? Is this Copenhagen or Oslo? Is this Chicago, Stavanger, Milan, Auckland? The languages are dialects, the neighborhoods are profiles from a common kaleidoscope.

Teju Cole, Black Paper: Writing in a Dark Time (2021)