Урбанизм

The redevelopment of historical centres became an important policy field in the era of European dictatorships following the First World War. At that time historical centres were regarded as shabby and as tarnishing the desired image of a magnificent new city, of a showcase of the dictatorship. This led to the widespread demolition of older buildings. Historical streets and squares disappeared and were replaced by new apartments and workplaces for the loyal middle classes, by car-friendly roads and ostentatious new buildings. Nevertheless, the redevelopment of historical centres did not exclusively mean the eradication of the ‘old town’. The aim of the dictatorship in many cases was also the preservation, and often the cultic display, of historical testimonials to past greatness.

The book presents examples of the redevelopment of historical centres in Mussolini’s Italy (Rome, Brescia, Bologna, Naples), in Stalin’s Soviet Union (Moscow), in Hitler’s Germany (Berlin), in Salazar’s Portugal (Lisbon, Évora, Óbidos) and in Franco’s Spain (Madrid, Toledo, Barcelona, Zaragoza, Santillana del Mar). These are followed by a brief summary of the history of the redevelopment of historical centres in Europe. This volume represents the very first attempt to identify the commonalities and differences in the redevelopment of historical centres in dictatorships in Europe in the first half of the 20th century.

Volume 1: Research and Analysis
Volume 2: Responses and Interventions

The unique achievement of this work is to have brought together research, theory, and action for the first time to deal with the issue of Romanian shrinking cities. The format of the publication is ambivalent, being at the same time an edited volume and an authored book. Built as a repertoire of arguments and authors that talk to each other at the intersection of disciplines, perspectives, and conventional and unconventional intervention tools, it reads like an edited volume. But then there is the theoretical confidence with which the editor leads the dialogue and her significant auctorial presence, which point to an authored book. Further, this fusion between the rigor of scientific research, the quirkiness of artistic restlessness, and the selflessness of social activism reveals a multi-targeted approach, which makes the book the more difficult to fit into one of the usual disciplinary categories of contemporary Romania.

—  Ana Maria Zahariade

This book looks at Romania as a case study nearly thirty years after the collapse of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Pact. In a very short time, political and economic conditions across Eastern Europe changed drastically, with affected countries being confronted with a capitalist market economy. The current globalization model succeeds in stimulating overall economic growth in most nations, but does so at the cost of social and spatial division. The very substantial and precise study of Ilinca Păun Constantinescu and her team and partners provides a deep understanding of these issues by analyzing the shrinking cities phenomenon. And they even go one important step further, by daring to formulate and initiate constructive ways to address these issues and envisioning perspectives for these marginalized places.

—  Philipp Oswalt

The first-ever spomenik guidebook, with over 75 examples alongside map references and information on why they exist and who built them. 

Spomenik’ the Serbo-Croat/Slovenian word for ‘monument’ – refers to a series of memorials built in Tito’s Republic of Yugoslavia from the 1960s-1990s, marking the horror of the occupation and the defeat of Axis forces during World War II. Hundreds were built across the country, from coastal resorts to remote mountains. Through these imaginative forms of concrete and steel, a classless, forward-looking, socialist society, free of ethnic tensions, was envisaged. 

Instead of looking to the ideologically aligned Soviet Union for artistic inspiration, Tito turned to the west and works of abstract expressionism and minimalism. As a result, Yugoslavia was able to develop its own distinct identity through these brutal monuments, which were used as political tools to articulate Tito’s personal vision of a new tomorrow. Today, following the breakup of the country and the subsequent Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, some have been destroyed or abandoned. Many have suffered the consequences of ethnic tensions – once viewed as symbols of hope they are now the focus of resentment and anger. 

This book brings together the largest collection of spomeniks published to date. Each has been extensively photographed and researched by the author, to make this book the most comprehensive survey of this obscure and fascinating architectural phenomenon. 

A fold-out map on the reverse of the dust jacket shows the exact location of each spomenik using GPS coordinates.

What’s best in architecture today and what’s most relevant for tomorrow come together in the first book by ArchDaily, the world’s most visited architecture website.

Drawing on ArchDaily’s curation of more than 40,000 projects over the past 15 years, it spotlights the most innovative built environments of our age — those paving the way for a better, more sustainable future.

Centered around ArchDaily’s 10 principles of good architecture, the book showcases a rich variety of projects — both built and planned — from a sunken restaurant with subterranean views to a Mediterranean cave transformed into a remarkable residence.

Reflecting a global community of world-shapers, it celebrates the most visionary architects, and introduces bold new talent. It explores the key topics and trends redefining the built environment, marking the forefront of architectural thought and practice today, with an eye on tomorrow.

Founded in 2008, ArchDaily is the world’s most visited architectural website. Presenting the latest projects, news, opinions pieces, and debates on big challenges, the platform is an essential tool for architects and urbanists. Some 14 million readers from 230 countries come to the site every month.

This is a book about four cities who were several times, and especially in connection with World War II forcedly put into completely new national contexts. This was affected by coercion from outside. The changes included genocide and forced displacement, but preserved built environment testifies past populations and national contexts. This book describes the urban environment in the four cities before World War II, and how the present population handles the memories of the past for future development.

In connection with World War II and its aftermaths, many of the four cities Chişinău, Černivci, Lviv and Wrocław residents were either killed or subject to forced migration beyond the new national borders. People settled in the city environment which still bore the traces of the earlier population and the earlier urban life that had been brutally put to an end.

Due to the continued Russian military aggression on the territory of Ukraine, this study takes on a new relevance.

This title is part of the Histories of Ukrainian Architecture programme initiated by DOM publishers in response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine’s sovereignty on 24 February 2022.

The first-hand, behind-the-scenes account of the creative inspiration behind the High Line, the transformative public ‘park in the sky’ that has reshaped global perceptions of urban space – and become one of the most beloved and visited destinations in New York City.

The first full documentation that visually charts the journey of this global landmark from the designer’s point of view. Hundreds of illustrations showcase every aspect of the project and its unforeseen influence in its entirety. Includes previously unpublished archival materials such as the drawings behind the original proposal and exclusive images of construction.

The book mirrors the architecture and composition of the park through its large landscape format with foldouts, surprising packaging and inserts. More than a visual masterpiece – its seven chapters are well-organized, legible, comprehensive and accessible. Detailed, obsessive, quirky, compelling, and beautiful, the book captures the essence of the High Line.

THE book for design enthusiasts including architects, landscape designers and urban planners - as well as for general-interest lovers of New York City, culture, art, gardens, and city life.

About the Authors:

James Corner Field Operations is an award-winning international landscape architecture, urban and public realm design firm based in New York City. The practice is renowned for strong contemporary design across a variety of project types and scales, from large urban districts and complex post-industrial sites, to small well-crafted, detail design projects. James Corner is recipient of the National Design Award and the Academy of Arts and Letters Architecture Award, among others.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro is an interdisciplinary design studio that integrates architecture, the visual arts and the performing arts. The firm established its identity through theoretical and self-generated projects before coming to international prominence through projects such as Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the recently opened Broad Museum. For their commitment to merging art, architecture, and culture, founding partners Diller and Scofidio were the first in architecture to be recognized with the MacArthur Foundation "genius" award.

The acclaimed exploration of the iconic ‘park in the sky' in New York that reshaped global perceptions of urban space - back in print

The perfect city is yet to be built, but through collective actions the next generation could have it in sight.

Urban life is humankind’s biggest experiment to date, our cities are constantly evolving and adapting to climate and economy. The cities we have today are not necessarily the ones we need, but big and small innovation is rethinking visions of urbanization. Together with pioneering research and design lab SPACE10, we present future-orientated design which enhances quality of life and makes our urban spaces more vibrant.

As technology and urban life edge ever closer, The Ideal City explores the ambitious actions and initiatives being brought to life across the globe to meet tomorrow’s demand in clever, forwarding-thinking ways. From pedestrian infrastructure to housing, the book uncovers what is being discussed at the forefront of urbanism through expert essays and profiles.

SPACE10 is a research and design lab on a mission to create a better everyday life for people and the planet.

SPACE10 researches and designs innovative solutions to some of the major shifts expected to affect people and our planet in the years to come. SPACE10 is proudly supported by and entirely dedicated to IKEA.

A quiet rural town until World War I, Zaporizhzhia exploded into a major industrial centre in the 1920s following the con­struction of the Dnipro Hydroelectric Station.

This book looks at a later period in the history of what is now one of the largest cities in Ukraine, the 1950s to 1980s, when the focus in Soviet policy shifted from industrialisation to welfare and from production to consumption. In this respect, Zaporizhzhia may be seen as ‘a local model of the birth of a modern society’ – Soviet consumer society. Historian Pavlo Kravchuk and historian and graphic designer Mykhailo Mordovskoi skilfully combine text and images to show how this shift played out in urban planning, architecture, and, more importantly, the lives of ordinary Soviet citizens.

Prefabricated construction techniques enabled the rapid erection of districts of mass housing, giving ordinary people a small apartment of their own for the first time. With this came a need for consumer goods. At the same time, sitting in their new kitchens, people gained a modicum of privacy and a space in which to meet and discuss, away from the controlling eye of the state. The new Soviet apartment was ‘a place of leisure’, but also of dissidence – the beginning of the end of the regime.

About the Authors:

Pavlo Kravchuk is a Ukrainian architectural historian. Chief specialist in historical and cultural heritage at the Department of Culture and Tourism at Zaporizhzhia City Council. One of the founders of the Zaporizhzhia Museum of Architecture. Creative director of the digital portal Zaporizhzhia Heritage. Author and coordinator of 'Programmes for protecting cultural and historical monuments of Zaporizhzhia City for 2018-2022'. Editor of the Ukrainian-German publication Fragile Heritage: Architectural Modernism of the Ukrainian South and East: late 1950s-1980s (2023).

Mykhailo Mordovskoi is a Ukrainian historian and -designer. Head of the municipal museum network in Zaporizhzhia. Author of the permanent exhibition at the Zaporizhzhia Museum of Architecture. Holder of the Heritage Solidarity Fellowship for Ukraine from Europa Nostra, Global Heritage Fund, and ALIPH (2022). Curator of the Rethinking Space cultural centre - the first public space in Ukraine focused on understanding the events of the current Russian--Ukrainian war (2023).

With over 60 per cent of the world’s population living in cities, the networks beneath our feet – which keep the cities above moving – are more important than ever before. Yet we never truly see how these amazing feats of engineering work.

Just how deep do the tunnels go? Where do the sewers, bunkers and postal trains run? And, how many tunnels are there under our streets? Each featured city presents a ‘skyline of the underground’  through specially commissioned cut-away illustrations and unique cartography. 

Drawing on geography, cartography and historical oddities, Mark Ovenden explores what our cities look like from the bottom up.

About the Author:

Mark Ovenden is a British writer and broadcaster. At the age of seven, he travelled alone ten miles on the London Underground, armed only with a map. He later gained entry to a Graphic Design course by submitting a reworking of the London tube map. His previous books are Transit Maps of the World, Great Railway Maps of the World, Metro Maps of the World, Paris Metro Style and London Underground by Design. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society.

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Пролистать книгу Underground Cities: Mapping the tunnels, transits and networks underneath our feet на Google Books

Universal Principles of Architecture is a concise, visual introduction to 100 of the most fundamental elements of architecture. 

Take an expansive and provocative tour of architectural theory and practice, exploring everything from basic concepts to speculative design and subversive interventions.

Universal Principles of Architecture illustrates in 100 concepts the importance, possibilities, challenges, and roles that architecture plays in shaping the world. This radical and perhaps surprising survey is divided into five sections:Archetypes, Methods, Conditions, Relationships, and Imaginaries. And, each of the five sections in the book introduces in 20 principles architecture at different scales and stages of the design process.

Through an inclusive and holistic approach, the book refers to initial design ideas, creative design approaches, reflections on the effects of the built and destroyed environments, and architectural desires and aspirations to transform the world and engage with the cosmos.

Because architecture is the converging point where many fields of knowledge, ideas, forms, approaches, methods, sensibilities, and materials meet, the book provides a flexible and dynamic space where the material, conceptual, and social take shape. 

Written, illustrated, and designed by critically acclaimed architects, educators, and authors Cruz Garcia and Nathalie Frankowski of WAI Architecture Think Tank, Universal Principles of Architecture combines accessible writing with otherworldly images like the ones they have displayed in exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou Metz, Museum of Modern Art New York, Neues Museum Nuremberg, and Museum of Art, Architecture, and Technology Lisbon.

The principles include:
- Figurative Archetypes
- Parasitic Architecture
- Diagramming
- Modelling
- Three-Dimensional Printing
- Carbon Neutral
- Biomimicry
- Inclusive Design
- Participatory Design
- AI Cities
- Queer Cartographies
- Intergalactic Architecture

Intended as an intergenerational and transdisciplinary reference volume, the book presents an ambitious overview of what architecture has been and can be in a world full of urgent challenges and abundant opportunities for social and ecological responsibility, and design creativity.

This book will challenge your preconceived notions of what architecture is and how it can be used.

The titles in the Rockport Universal series offer comprehensive and authoritative information and edifying and inspiring visual examples on multidisciplinary subjects for designers, architects, engineers, students, and anyone who is interested in expanding and enriching their design knowledge.

About the Authors:

Founded by Puerto Rican architect, artist, curator, educator, author, and theorist Cruz Garcia and French architect, artist, curator, educator, author, and poet Nathalie Frankowski, WAI Architecture Think Tank is an internationally recognized studio invested in the development of new curricula and experiments that support public engagement with architecture. They are particularly interested in decolonization and anti-racist reconstruction of the role of architecture in the construction of new worlds. Garcia and Frankowski are Associate Professors at Iowa State University, where they are Design for Critical Futures Fellows in Activism and Emancipatory practice respectively, as well as faculty at the Advanced Architectural Design program at Columbia University. Their work has been part of the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial and exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou Metz, Neues Museum Nuremberg, Museum of Modern Art New York, and the Museum of Art, Architecture, and Technology Lisbon. They are authors of Universal Principles of Architecture.

waithinktank.com

Cruz Garcia is a Puerto Rican architect, artist, curator, educator, author, theorist, and co-founder of WAI Architecture Think Tank together with Nathalie Frankowski.

Nathalie Frankowski is a French architect, artist, curator, educator, author, poet, and co-founder of WAI Architecture Think Tank together with Cruz Garcia.

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Пролистать книгу Universal Principles of Architecture: 100 Architectural Archetypes, Methods, Conditions, Relationships, and Imaginaries на Google Books.

Dense, organic cities with interconnected building structures and easily accessed common urban spaces. Cities that offer variety, vibrancy and architectural qualities that tempt people to go exploring on foot or by bike. Cities that have a sense of openness, make people feel safe and create opportunities for conversations in public spaces. Cities that are rooted in tradition and a respect for cultural heritage. Cities that provide meeting places in a setting conducive to cultural cohesion. Social and sensory cities.

This book points to urban blocks as the structure best suited to pro­moting sustainable building developments and cities. Its first part presents some urban qualities that have evolved from the urban block as a fundamental, flexible element. These examples have been selected from European block cities as well as from old and new urban districts in Copenhagen.

The second part of the book outlines the elements of the urban block city and its potential, proposing 10 principles that underpin an action-oriented platform for transforming older urban districts or planning new ones.

This publication reflects the work of the first year of Ro3kvit – Urban Coalition for Ukraine. The members are profes­sionals from Ukraine and elsewhere who have come together to rethink Ukraine’s future. In six chapters covering topics ranging from urbanism to housing and from identity to circular building and governance, the many different aspects of rebuilding and reconstruction are addressed in the form of longer essays, conversations, and project descriptions. All texts and projects are written or executed by Ro3kvit members. Sometimes the authors express their personal views and involvement, creating a rich amalgam of different voices while adhering to a common set of values that members of Ro3kvit share and cherish.

Ro3kvit’s work follows five principles:
• Civil society comes first
• Ro3kvit’s work is ethically sound
• Consideration of prudent use of sources and resources
• Education is crucial
• Ro3kvit’s work is network-based

Urban Grids: Handbook for Regular City Design is the result of a five-year design research project undertaken by professor Joan Busquets and Dingliang Yang at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. The research that is the foundation for this publication emphasises the value of open forms for city design, a publication that specifically insists that the grid has the unique capacity to absorb and channel urban transformation flexibly and productively. 

Urban Grids analyses cities and urban projects that utilise the grid as the main structural device for allowing rational development, and goes further to propose speculative design projects capable of suggesting new urban paradigms drawn from the grid as a design tool. Consisting of six major parts, it is divided into the following topics: 1) the atlas of grid cities, 2) grid projects through history, 3) the 20th-century dilemma, 4) the atlas of contemporary grid projects, 5) projective tools for the future, and 6) goodgrid city as an open form coping with new urban issues.

- Urban Grids, which is both historical and projective, explores the potential of the grid as a design tool in producing a multitude of urban processes and forms
- Aimed at both academic and professional audiences who are involved with city planning, urban design, architecture, and landscape architecture

About the Authors:

Joan Busquets, world-renowned urban planner and architect, is the first Martin Bucksbaum Professor in Practice of Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Dingliang Yang is currently a teaching fellow and research associate, as well as a Doctor of Design Candidate at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He is the founding principal of VARY Design.

“Urban interstices” — their design — are the topic of this book. What are urban interstices? What different issues, opportunities, roles, and concepts do they deal with?

The book’s five chapters written by urban planners, architects and interior designers provide five different views and keys — Urban rewriting, Architectural threshold, Green rooms, Connecting publicness, Ephemeral devices — and draft a possible path to sound the spectrum of urban interstices’ design in Italy. Urban space can be “interstitial” in its ambiguous capability of signification in the sense-making process; that is, in the double valence of a mute void — space without signification — or meaningful room — a small and dense universe of suspension. Sometimes the project for interstitial spaces aims to transform the former into the latter. Sometimes, on the other hand, the project makes the interstice an interface, connector, exchanger, membrane, space of interrelation. So that urban interstices become alternatively thresholds and pulsating rooms, and urban catalysts activated by specific design moves and devices. And somehow they also speak of a general “interstitial” condition of urban space today. The critical path proposed here is based on the review of seventy contemporary Italian cases. A collection of sixty projects is provided in the second part of the book, while ten cases — two for each thematic key — are explored in brief monographic essays and by interviews with the authors of the projects. They are the subject of the photographic essay, Visual narration, put in the middle of the book.

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Пролистать книгу Urban Interstices in Italy - Design Experiences

Envision the city as an infinite playground

Created in collaboration with Red Bull, Urban Playgrounds explores some of the world’s most thrilling places for urban sports. From Venice, Barcelona and Los Angeles, to Brasilia, Istanbul, Cairo, Lagos, or Jakarta, this book reveals an exhilarating marriage between space and sports.

Born from a need to challenge boundaries, or a desire for self-expression and entertainment, urban sports reimagine the city as a playground. Be it freestyling on a skateboard, riding a BMX, or stretching the human body in parkour, urban athletes demonstrate the possibilities.