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If postmodernism is indeed 'the cultural logic of late capitalism', why did typical postmodernist themes like ornament, colour, history and identity find their application in the architecture of the socialist Second World? How do we explain the retreat into paper architecture and theoretical discussion in societies still nominally devoted to socialist modernization? Exploring the intersection of two areas of growing scholarly interest - postmodernism and the architecture of the former socialist world - this edited collection stakes out new ground in charting architecture's various transformations in the 1970s and 80s. Fourteen essays together explore the question of whether or not architectu...
From 1970–1990, architecture experienced a revision as part of the post-modern movement. The critical attitude to the functionalistic Moderne style and the influence of semiotics and philosophical trends, such as phenomenology, on architectural theory led to an increased interest in its history, expression, perception, and context. In addition, architectural heritage and the care of architectural monuments gained importance. This development also increasingly challenged the ideologically based division between East and West. Instead of emphasizing the differences, the search was for a joint cultural heritage. The contributions in this volume question terms such as "Moderne" and "post-modern", and show how architecture could again represent local, regional, and national identity.
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At the heart of the fiercest international conflicts is the struggle for the future of globalization In the wake of a pandemic that tested economies and societies, geopolitical conflict has taken on a new intensity. The Rest and the West locates the origins of this development in the turbulent dynamics of the capitalist world market. Rather than reducing global conflict to a matter of great power rivalries or the process of economic decoupling, Sandro Mezzadra and Brett Neilson investigate the increasing centrality of war to capital operations and to the transformation of capitalism. The goal is to forge a theory of imperialism adequate to a world in which the “rest” no longer provides a putative unity that defines and opposes the “West.”
How socialist architects, planners, and contractors worked collectively to urbanize and develop the Global South during the Soviet era In the course of the Cold War, architects, planners, and construction companies from socialist Eastern Europe engaged in a vibrant collaboration with those in West Africa and the Middle East in order to bring modernization to the developing world. Architecture in Global Socialism shows how their collaboration reshaped five cities in the Global South: Accra, Lagos, Baghdad, Abu Dhabi, and Kuwait City. Łukasz Stanek describes how local authorities and professionals in these cities drew on Soviet prefabrication systems, Hungarian and Polish planning methods, Yu...
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From participatory architecture to interaction design, the question of how design accommodates use is driving inquiry in many creative fields. Expanding utility to embrace people’s everyday experience brings new promises for the social role of design. But this is nothing new. As the essays assembled in this collection show, interest in the elusive realm of the user was an essential part of architecture and design throughout the twentieth century. Use Matters is the first to assemble this alternative history, from the bathroom to the city, from ergonomics to cybernetics, and from Algeria to East Germany. It argues that the user is not a universal but a historically constructed category of twentieth-century modernity that continues to inform architectural practice and thinking in often unacknowledged ways.