Ground Control
Fear and happiness in the twenty-first-century city
Published on 26. January 2012
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-0-241-96090-5 (ISBN)
Description
In Ground Control Anna Minton reveals the untested - and unwanted - urban planning that is changing not only our cities, but the nature of public space, of citizenship and of trust.
Britain's streets have been transformed by the construction of new property - but it's owned by private corporations, designed for profit and watched over by CCTV. Have these gleaming business districts, mega malls and gated developments led to 'regeneration', or have they intensified social divisions and made us more fearful of each other?
Now with a new chapter on the 2012 London Olympic legacy and Britain's housing collapse, Anna Minton's acclaimed and passionate polemic shows us the face of Britain today.
'They sold our streets and nobody noticed ... timely and powerful ... revelatory' Observer
'A sustained, informed, articulate, timely work of rage ... Anna Minton has put her finger on one of the most profound and disturbing shifts in modern British cities' Evening Standard
'A damning study of how Britain is curbing freedoms ... Minton is a brilliant journalist ... a vital book' Daily Telegraph
'Eye-opening, unsettling ... A wonderful, timely analysis that reveals another, more sinister side to "gentrification"' Financial Times
Britain's streets have been transformed by the construction of new property - but it's owned by private corporations, designed for profit and watched over by CCTV. Have these gleaming business districts, mega malls and gated developments led to 'regeneration', or have they intensified social divisions and made us more fearful of each other?
Now with a new chapter on the 2012 London Olympic legacy and Britain's housing collapse, Anna Minton's acclaimed and passionate polemic shows us the face of Britain today.
'They sold our streets and nobody noticed ... timely and powerful ... revelatory' Observer
'A sustained, informed, articulate, timely work of rage ... Anna Minton has put her finger on one of the most profound and disturbing shifts in modern British cities' Evening Standard
'A damning study of how Britain is curbing freedoms ... Minton is a brilliant journalist ... a vital book' Daily Telegraph
'Eye-opening, unsettling ... A wonderful, timely analysis that reveals another, more sinister side to "gentrification"' Financial Times
Reviews / Votes
Anna Minton has done us a service with this book . . . compelling * The Sunday Times * A sharp and urgent anaylsis of our changing towns and cities * Metro * A timely and powerful study . . . revelatory * Guardian * Compelling . . . raises important questions about the meaning of liberty in contemporary society and what we are prepared to defend today * Times *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 203 mm
Width: 131 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
218 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-241-96090-5 (9780241960905)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
01/2012
1st Edition
Penguin Books Ltd
€9.49
Available for download
Person
Anna Minton is the recipient of five national journalism awards. She was former staff writer for the Financial Times and writes regularly for the Guardian. Anna is the author of The Joseph Rowntree Foundation Viewpoint on fear and distrust and is a member of the writers' panel for The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment.