Paradoxical Urbanism

Anti-Urban Currents in Modern Urbanism

Malcolm Miles author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Springer Verlag, Singapore

Published:7th Sep '21

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Paradoxical Urbanism cover

Modernist urbanism seems progressive, even Utopian: design for a better world through a democratic and humane built environment. But two currents undermine this vision from within: an Arcadianism which turns to a rural idyll as retreat from change and the effects of industrialization; and an instrumentalism by which the humane vision becomes prescriptive and anti-democratic. Malcolm Miles argues that these two currents undermine modernism’s progressive vision. This book examines the roots of modernist urbanism in the seamless, self-contained systems of Cartesian space; and identifies contradictions within modernist urbanism in its instrumentalism and reliance on de-politicised professional expertise. Miles adroitly reviews the postmodern culture of industrial ruinscapes; and posits that if cities are to be places of proximity, diversity, mobility and agency, this will require a move from modernist instrumentalism to a creative and radically democratic co-production of the built environment.

ISBN: 9789811563430

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

128 pages

1st ed. 2021