Vertical

"In this panoramic, at times jaw-dropping book, Stephen Graham describes how in recent years the built environment around the world, both above and below ground, has become dramatically more vertical - and more unequal. sharp and memorable. dizzyingly restless. Cities feel different once you've read it" -- Andy Beckett * Guardian *
A rigorously researched, pioneering book packed with disturbing and at times astonishing information * Icon *
He takes the view that we've been looking at cities all wrong, all laid out like maps, when what we should be doing is taking vertical slices through them instead. He doesn't just mean from the tip of the skyscrapers to the metro tunnels below ground: he means from the circling satellites round the planet right down to bunkers, sewers, mines. * Spectator *
An enlightening overview of the security state's impact on contemporary cities, from overt authoritarian control in war-torn areas to more subtle forms of behavioral influence in places supposedly at peace. Graham shows how military/police/security forces perceive urban places and urban dwellers as subjects to control, and how their inherently undemocratic tactics threaten freedom all over the world -- Nate Berg * Curbed *
Seeing cities as Gordian knots of geopolitics, he gathers an impressive range of case studies to bolster his analysis. These compel and convince, from Saudi Arabia's high-rise vanity projects to Rio de Janeiro's favelas. * Nature *