Urban Asymmetries

The current global economic crisis provides an ideal backdrop for reviewing the dire consequences that neoliberal urban policies have had upon the city, and for discussing possible alternatives to market-driven development. In this context, Urban Asymmetries exposes the contradictions of uneven urban development, providing both a substantial critique of the current urban condition and a discussion of necessary counter practices, policies and strategies for designing in such environments. The book aims to disprove some of the prevailing disciplinary discourses in architecture and urbanism which see the city as a 'given' rather than as an evolving socio-historic phenomenon, and intends to challenge the ubiquitous understanding of architecture as devoid of any social transformative power. With contributions by David Harvey, Margit Meyer, Erik Swyngedouw, Arie Graafland and others.