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Written by a team of renowned contributors and carefully edited to address the themes laid out by the editors in their introduction, the book includes theoretical issues concerning the questions of aesthetics and politics and addresses city and urban strategies within the general critique of the &dquotepost-political&dquote. By focusing on specific case studies from Warsaw, Barcelona, Dubai, Tokyo and many more the book consolidates the contributions of a diverse group of academics, architects and critics from Europe, the Middle East and America. This collection fills the gap in the existing literature on the relation between politics and aesthetics, and its implications for the theoretical discourse of architecture today. In summary, this book provides a response to the predominant de-politicization in academic discourse and is an attempt to re-claim the abandoned critical project in architecture.

Capital cities have been the seat of political power and central stage for their state's political conflicts and rituals throughout the ages. In the modern era, they provide symbols for and confer meaning to the state, thereby contributing to the \"invention\" of the nation. Capitals capture the imagination of natives, visitors and outsiders alike, yet also express the outcomes of power struggles within the political systems in which they operate. This volume addresses the reciprocal relationships between identity, regime formation, urban planning, and public architecture in the Western world. It examines the role of urban design and architecture in expressing (or hiding) ideological beliefs and political agenda. Case studies include \"old\" capitals such as Rome, Vienna, Berlin and Warsaw; \"new\" ones such as Washington DC, Ottawa, Canberra, Ankara, Bonn, and Brasilia; and the \"European\" capital Brussels. Each case reflects the authors' different disciplinary backgrounds in architecture, history, political science, and urban studies, demonstrating the value of an interdisciplinary approach to studying cities.

While urban preservation is almost as old as cities themselves, it has become increasingly controversial in modern cities. In this book, Yue Zhang presents a cross-national comparative analysis of the politics of urban preservation. Based on comprehensive archival research and more than two hundred in-depth interviews in Beijing, Chicago, and Paris, Zhang finds that urban preservation provides a tool for diverse political and social actors to frame their propositions and advance their favored courses of action. In cities from West to East, divergent political and economic interests have caused urban preservation to become contested. Exploring three of the world's great cities, Zhang deftly navigates readers through each case study, illustrating the complexities of the politics of urban preservation in each city. In Beijing, urban preservation was integral to promoting economic growth and enhancing the city's image during the lead-up to the 2008 Olympics; in Chicago, it is used to increase property values and revitalize neighborhoods; and in Paris, it offers a channel for national and municipal governments to compete for control over urban space. Although urban preservation serves various purposes in these cities, Zhang explains how different types of political fragmentation have affected the implementation of preservation initiatives in predictable ways, thus generating distinct patterns of urban preservation. A comparative urban politics study of unusual breadth, The Fragmented Politics of Urban Preservation gives us insight into the complex policy process of urban preservation through which political institutions are intertwined with interests and inclinations, fundamentally shaping the direction of urban development, the physical forms of cities, and the lives of citizens.

\"Rome underwent a spectacular transformation under Fascist rule; a transformation that was visual and topographical but also deeply symbolic. The 'third Rome' that Mussolini envisioned and sought to realise in the 1920s and 1930s was partly a new city, expanding in all directions from the historic centre, and partly a new vision for an ideal city that emerged from within a cityscape forged across millennia of history. This Rome was intended to be both the capital of a regenerated Italy and the sanctuary of a new international fascist political religion. Aristotle Kallis traces the plethora of visions and projects that sought to reimagine, reinvent, and reshape the city as a 'fascist capital' over the course of twenty short years. Extensive demolitions, reconfigurations of sites and monuments, as well as ambitious new constructions designed by an array of architects in wildly different styles, chronicle a fascinating story of conquering drive, ruthless appropriation, and interrupted ambition\"-- Provided by publisher.

This book brings together a series of new and historical case studies to show how different phases of globalization are transforming the built environment. Taking a broad interdisciplinary approach, the author draws on sociological, geographical, cultural and postcolonial studies to provide a critical account of the development of three key concepts: global culture, post colonialism, and modernity. Subsequent case studies examine how global economic, political and cultural forces shape the forms of architectural and urban modernity in globalized suburbs and spaces in major cities worldwide. The first book to combine global and postcolonial theoretical approaches to the built environment and to illustrate these with examples, Spaces of Global Cultures argues for a more historical and interdisciplinary understanding of globalization: one that places material space and the built environment at the centre and calls for new theories to address new conditions. 'This outstanding volume by Anthony King is empirically rich and sends deep theoretical tremors as well; an invaluable read.' - Jan Nederveen Pieterse, author of Globalization or Empire, Routledge 2004 'The book is very interdisciplinary—and inherently geographical ... It is sensitive to political and cultural context and highlights the various hegemonies at play in architecture.' - Environment and Planning A 'King's importance in shaping the way we understand globalization as an unequal and uneven system not only of economic but of material and cultural processes cannot be understated.' 'The empirical material in this book is excellent.' 'This is architectural history at its best.' - Rob Shields, Building Research and Information, 2005 'King provides an accessible and significant contribution to the literature on how transnational and global identities play out within the built environment ... it will be of considerable interest to a range of courses, from architecture and planning history to the sociology and geography of consumption.' - Journal of Consumer Culture '...an excellent book that maps the multifaceted ways in which the built environment is influenced by transnational processes in general and a good overview of the research of one of its most important students in particular' - International Journal of Urban and Regional Research Anthony D. King is Bartle Professor of Art History and of Sociology, State University of New York at Binghamton. He has been Visiting Professor in Architecture, University of Califonia Berkeley and, for five years, Professor, Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Introduction. Part I: Theories 1. Worlds in the City: Wonders of Modern Design to Weapons of Mass Destruction 2. Interrogating Global Culture(s) 3. Cultures and Spaces of Postcolonial Knowledges 4. The Times and Spaces of Modernities 5. Writing Transnational Planning Histories: The Dialectics of Dual Development Part II: Histories 6. Suburb/Ethnoburb/Globurb: The Making of Contemporary Modernities 7. Villafication: The Transformation of Chinese Cities 8. Imagining the World at Home: The Distant Spaces of the Indian City 9. Transnational Delhi Revisited: The Spatial Language of Three Modernities 10. Imperialism, Colonialism and Architects of the Arts and Crafts in Britain Part III: Pasts/Presents/Futures 11. Ways of Seeing: Serendipity, Visuality, Experience

Paul Stronski tells the fascinating story of Tashkent, an ethnically diverse, primarily Muslim city that became the prototype for the Soviet-era reimagining of urban centers in Central Asia. Based on extensive research in Russian and Uzbek archives, Stronski shows us how Soviet officials, planners, and architects strived to integrate local ethnic traditions and socialist ideology into a newly constructed urban space and propaganda showcase. The Soviets planned to transform Tashkent from a \"feudal city\" of the tsarist era into a \"flourishing garden,\" replete with fountains, a lakeside resort, modern roadways, schools, hospitals, apartment buildings, and of course, factories. The city was intended to be a shining example to the world of the successful assimilation of a distinctly non-Russian city and its citizens through the catalyst of socialism. As Stronski reveals, the physical building of this Soviet city was not an end in itself, but rather a means to change the people and their society. Stronski analyzes how the local population of Tashkent reacted to, resisted, and eventually acquiesced to the city's socialist transformation. He records their experiences of the Great Terror, World War II, Stalin's death, and the developments of the Krushchev and Brezhnev eras up until the earthquake of 1966, which leveled large parts of the city. Stronski finds that the Soviets established a legitimacy that transformed Tashkent and its people into one of the more stalwart supporters of the regime through years of political and cultural changes and finally during the upheavals of glasnost.