The Unknown City: Contesting Architecture and Social Space

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Book Description
The Unknown City takes its place in the emerging architectural literature that looks beyond design process and buildings to discover new ways of looking at the urban experience. A multistranded contemplation of the notion of "knowing a place," it is about both the existence and the possibilities of architecture and the city.

An important inspiration for the book is the work of Henri Lefebvre, in particular his ideas on space as a historical production. Many of the essays also draw on the social critique and tactics of the Situationist movement. The international gathering of contributors includes art, architectural, and urban historians and theorists; urban geographers; architects, artists, and filmmakers; and literary and cultural theorists. The essays range from abstract considerations of spatial production and representation to such concrete examples of urban domination as video surveillance and Regency London as the site of male pleasure.

Although many of the essays are driven by social, cultural, and urban theory, they also tell real stories about real places. Each piece is in some way a critique of capitalism and a thought experiment about how designers and city dwellers working together can shape the cities of tomorrow.

Contributors: Iain Borden, M. Christine Boyer, Iain Chambers, Jonathan Charley, Nigel Coates, Cornford and Cross, Barry Curtis, Fashion Architecture Taste (FAT), Adrian Forty, Tom Gretton, Dolores Hayden, bell hooks, Patrick Keiller, Joe Kerr, Doreen Massey, Sandy McCreery, William Menking, Sally R. Munt, Steve Pile, Alicia Pivaro, Jane Rendell, Edward W. Soja, Philip Tabor, Helen Thomas, Bernard Tschumi, Lynne Walker, Richard Wentworth, Shirley Wong, Patrick Wright.

Book Info
A collection of essays examining the architectural idea of looking beyond simple design process and building to find new ways of viewing the urban experience. Many essays draw on the critique of the Situationist movement, and some are based on the work of Henri Lefebvre, who viewed space as a historical production. DLC: Architecture and society.

About the Author
Iain Borden is Director of the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. Jane Rendell is Lecturer in Architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. Joe Kerr is Head of the Department of Critical and Historical Studies, Royal College of Art, London.

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