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Visions of the City : Utopianism, Power and Politics in Twentieth-Century Urbanism / David Pinder.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, [2022]Copyright date: ©2005Description: 1 online resource (320 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780748614875
  • 9781474471640
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 307.1/216/0904
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Illustration credits -- 1. INTRODUCTION -- 2. RESTORATIVE UTOPIAS -- 3. MODERNIST CALLS TO ORDER -- 4. DREAMS OF CITIES AND MONSTERS -- 5. SITUATIONIST ADVENTURES -- 6. THE GREAT GAME TO COME -- 7. LIFE WILL RESIDE IN POETRY -- 8. PARTISANS OF POSSIBILITIES -- Notes -- Select bibliography -- Index
Summary: GBS_insertPreviewButtonPopup('ISBN:9780748614882);Visions of the City is a dramatic account of utopian urbanism in the twentieth century. It explores radical demands for new spaces and ways of living, and considers their effects on planning, architecture and struggles to shape urban landscapes. Such visions, it shows, have played a crucial role in informing understandings and imaginings of the modern city. The author critically examines influential traditions in western Europe associated with such figures as Ebenezer Howard and Le Corbusier, uncovering the political interests, desires and anxieties that lay behind their ideal cities, and drawing out their 'noir side'. He also investigates oppositional perspectives from the time that challenged these rationalist conceptions of cities and urban life, and that disturbed their dreams of order, especially from within surrealism.At the heart of this richly illustrated book is an encounter with the explosive ideas of the situationists. Tracing the subversive practices of this avant-garde group and its associates from their explorations of Paris during the 1950s to their projects for an alternative 'unitary urbanism', David Pinder convincingly explains the significance of their revolutionary attempts to transform urban space and everyday life. He addresses in particular Constant's vision of New Babylon, finding within his proposals for future spaces produced through nomadic life, creativity and play a still powerful challenge to imagine cities otherwise. The book not only recovers vital moments from past hopes and dreams of modern urbanism. It also contests current claims about the 'end of utopia', arguing that reconsidering earlier projects can play a critical role in developing utopian perspectives today. Through the study of utopian visions, it aims to rekindle elements of utopianism itself."
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9781474471640

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Illustration credits -- 1. INTRODUCTION -- 2. RESTORATIVE UTOPIAS -- 3. MODERNIST CALLS TO ORDER -- 4. DREAMS OF CITIES AND MONSTERS -- 5. SITUATIONIST ADVENTURES -- 6. THE GREAT GAME TO COME -- 7. LIFE WILL RESIDE IN POETRY -- 8. PARTISANS OF POSSIBILITIES -- Notes -- Select bibliography -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

GBS_insertPreviewButtonPopup('ISBN:9780748614882);Visions of the City is a dramatic account of utopian urbanism in the twentieth century. It explores radical demands for new spaces and ways of living, and considers their effects on planning, architecture and struggles to shape urban landscapes. Such visions, it shows, have played a crucial role in informing understandings and imaginings of the modern city. The author critically examines influential traditions in western Europe associated with such figures as Ebenezer Howard and Le Corbusier, uncovering the political interests, desires and anxieties that lay behind their ideal cities, and drawing out their 'noir side'. He also investigates oppositional perspectives from the time that challenged these rationalist conceptions of cities and urban life, and that disturbed their dreams of order, especially from within surrealism.At the heart of this richly illustrated book is an encounter with the explosive ideas of the situationists. Tracing the subversive practices of this avant-garde group and its associates from their explorations of Paris during the 1950s to their projects for an alternative 'unitary urbanism', David Pinder convincingly explains the significance of their revolutionary attempts to transform urban space and everyday life. He addresses in particular Constant's vision of New Babylon, finding within his proposals for future spaces produced through nomadic life, creativity and play a still powerful challenge to imagine cities otherwise. The book not only recovers vital moments from past hopes and dreams of modern urbanism. It also contests current claims about the 'end of utopia', arguing that reconsidering earlier projects can play a critical role in developing utopian perspectives today. Through the study of utopian visions, it aims to rekindle elements of utopianism itself."

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 02. Mrz 2022)