The city as a project / edited by Pier Vittorio Aureli.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Aureli, Pier Vittorio.

Martin and Margy Meyerson Endowment Fund for the Built Environment.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cities and towns.

Urban policy.

Urbanization--History.

Urbanization.

History.

City planning--History.

City planning.

Sociology, Urban.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

344 pages : illustrations, maps, plans ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

Berlin : Ruby Press, [2013]

Summary:

The city is often depicted as a sort of self-organizing chaos. This collection of essays, edited by Pier Vittorio Aureli, makes the case for the opposite hypothesis: The city is always the result of political intention, often in the form of specific architectural projects. Cities are shaped not only by material forces, but also by cultural and didactic visions. This thesis is substantiated by eight thoroughly researched essays scrutinizing a fascinating line-up of urban conditions across more than two thousands years of history: from the political theology of the Islamic city to the political economy of Renaissance architecture; from the rise of public architecture in 17th-century France to the laissez-faire development of the contemporary Greek city; from the exemplary teachings of Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand to the collaborative work of Hannes Meyer; and from the plan of the Mesoamerican metropolis to that of the Fordist factory floor. In challenging the split between theory and practice, this book reveals the powerful ways in which the city arises from the constant interaction between ideas and spatial conditions.

Contents:

Introduction. Means to an end : the rise and fall of the architectural project of the city / Pier Vittorio Aureli

Prelude. The public frame : the economic Teotihuacan metropolis / Fernando Donis

The birth of the project : the Islamic and Renaissance city. Camp of faith : the political theology of the Islamic city / Hamed Khosravi ; Prehistories of common space : conflict and abstraction in Renaissance architecture / Amir Djalali

The architecture of the well-ordered state. Specific spaces : government and the emergence of architecture d'accompagnement / Maria Shéhérazade Giudici ; The deep structure of type : the construction of a common knowledge in Durand's method / Christopher C.M. Lee

Architecture and revolution. Architecture and revolution : the typical plan as index of generic / Francesco Marullo ; "Co-operation rules the world. The community rules the individual" : on Hannes Meyer / Bernardina Borra

Epilogue. The absence of plan as a project : on the planning development of modern Athens : 1830-2010 / Platon Issaias

Afterword. Fragmented panoramas / Michiel Riedijk.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Martin and Margy Meyerson Endowment Fund for the Built Environment.

ISBN:

9783944074061

3944074068

OCLC:

870285237