The Invisible Cities is full of metaphors that enable the reader to interpret the text in many different ways. Any interpretation could be considered "right" as long as an ample amount of examples can be used to support it. On page 10, I interpreted this passage to be saying that when looking at a city you cannot just look at the architecture because while minute details may seem to have some unimportance, they are ultimately irrelevant in the larger scale of things. What is important, is how the architecture influences the actions of the people in the city, and how the architecture is structured around the lives of the people. "...the height of a lamppost and the distance from the ground of a hanged usurper's swaying feet." This quote could either mean that the length of the rope was decided as a result of the lamppost's height, or perhaps that the lamppost was desired. So that the hanged person would be the right distance from the ground for the death to take place.
"Elsewhere is a negative mirror. The traveler recognizes the little that is his, discovering the much he has not had and will never have." (29) When going to a foreign land, a traveler will describe it in terms or what his own land does not have. Generally all cities will have people and homes, but the unique characteristics of these people and homes will be what the traveler remembers most and will speak about when recounting his trip.
"Yes, the empire is sick, and, what is worse, it is trying to be accustomed to it's sores. This is the aim of my explorations: examining the traces of happiness still to be glimpsed, I gauge its short supply. If you want to know how much darkness there is around you, you must sharpen your eyes, peering at the faint lights in the distance."(59) Unless you get out of your town, you will become accustomed to and ignore all the things wrong with it. Traveling allows you to experience different cities and see the ways that it is better than your own, so that when you return home you could try to make it better or else just be aware of it's faults. Know that it could be improved.
In the second quotation you refer to, "Elsewhere is a negative mirror. The traveler recognizes the little that is his, discovering the much he has not had and will never have" I would like to further explain what this could mean to a different reader (29). You argue that a traveler is going to notice what they do not have in their own city, but I think the traveler does recognize the similarities. He just does so in a negative mirror so he does not choose to focus on them and instead by recognizing what is similar he can thus distinguish what is different. The traveler will notice the people of these cities because with no people a city is nothing. However, he is going to associate these people with all the other things that Macro sees in the cities. So he will group together the architecture and the people and how they relate to one another. What does a certain type of architecture do for the people living in this city? An individual thinks in terms of memory and making associations through his or her memory, so when a person travels somewhere knew they are automatically and instinctively interpret a city based on their memory and what is familiar to them. The most important phrase in this quotation is "negative mirror." A person is looking at themselves in their old city but has to place themselves into a new city that they are looking at based on this old image of themselves. If the reader looks at the titles of the chapters the majority of them are associated with memory and how a person's memory changes person to person and over the years and continuing visits to one or more cities.
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