A metrop­o­lis is a bound­less syn­the­sis of cities and vil­lages. It often begins life as a labyrinthine cas­tle town that evolves over time into a dense urban net­work that never truly reveals itself, flick­er­ing in a per­pet­ual process of spon­ta­neous change that thrives on a highly erratic rit­ual of destruc­tion and rebuilding.