Cities Interrupted explores the potential of visual culture ndash; in the form of photography; film; performance; architecture; urban design; and mixed media ndash; to strategically interrupt processes of globalization in contemporary urban spaces. Looking at cities such as Amsterdam; Beijing; Doha; London; New York; and Paris; the book brings together original essays to reveal how the concept of interruption in global cities enables new understanding of the forms of space; experience; and community that are emerging in todays rapidly transforming urban environments.The idea of interruption addressed in this book refers to deliberate interventions in the spaces and communities of contemporary cities ndash; interventions that seek to disrupt or destabilize the experience of everyday urban life through creative practice. Interruption is used as an analytic and conceptual tool to challenge ndash; and explore alternatives to ndash; the narratives of speed; hyper-mobility; rapid growth; and incessant exchange and flow that have dominated critical thinking on global cities.Bringing art and creative practice into the centre of discussions about the future of cities; alongside discussions of development; design; justice; health; sustainability; technology; and citizenship; this book is essential reading for anyone working at the intersections of a range of urban; cultural and visual fields; including urban studies; urban design and architecture; visual studies; cultural studies; media studies; art history; and social and cultural geography.
2016-01-17 2016-01-17File Name: B01ARBNANK
Review
3 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Too many anecdotes; not enough insightBy another readerThis book prefers telling all the anecdotes to the telling anecdote. More space explicating important ideas and much less to painting a broad canvas that gets in as many names as possible would have been helpful.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Modernist MathBy DMW47Everdell paints for us a wonderfully enchanting history of modernism. He manages to craft his story through light and agile prose; telling lively stories while maintaining scholarly rigor. I was particularly pleased with this aspect of The First Moderns; as books that manage to balance rigor and narrative appeal are not easily found (consider Louis Menands Metaphysical Club; which is wonderfully written; but lacks nuance in describing pragmatism). Everdell essentially tells us stories; and in them; he showcases genius; bringing Dedekind; Seurat; Boltzmann; Wittgenstein and countless others to life. His mastery of the subject is impressive; and his love and sheer passion for history is abundantly clear. The book does well to break down artificially-imposed boundaries -- and appreciates modernism in a truly interdisciplinary context; which is refreshing in a world of specialization.Everdell posits that modernism began in number theory rather than the arts; in the works of German logician Frege -- a bold assertion; but not one without merit. For him; the motif that unites modernists is a sense of discontinuity; one that can be observed in mathematics; the physical sciences; politics; as well as literature; music and the fine arts. A true gem; and one of the best books on modernism Ive come across. I cant recommend this book enough -- Everdell has here cemented his place among the most compelling historians of our time.7 of 8 people found the following review helpful. The triumph of lucidityBy Martin MontanaJust like the individual components of Modernism; being inventions of the intellect; the term Moderism is also an invention of the mind; or just plain "mind" as brain writers term it (presumably because you cant isolate of define where "the" mind is). But its an interesting idea from a historical perspective to notice that abstract thinking including gedanken or thought experiments became more prevalent and resulted in new and useable theories; near the end of the 19th century. If you type in "Modernism" in the search box at .com; you get hundreds of books on it; most of which read like doctoral dissertations written in academic speak. Whats good about this book is the lucidity of it. I was also impressed at the authors wide scope of knowledge across disciplines; better than mine. I still dont know what a flatted fifth is. Good work.
