Cities of Power
The Urban, The National, The Popular, The Global
Published on 12. October 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
416 pages
978-1-78478-545-1 (ISBN)
Description
In this brilliant, very original survey of the politics and meanings of urban landscapes, leading sociologist Goeran Therborn offers a tour of the world's major capital cities, and the forces that have shaped them. Through a global, historical lens, and with a thematic range extending from the mutations of modernist architecture to the contemporary return of urban revolutions, Therborn questions received assumptions about the source, manifestations and reach of urban power, combining perspectives on politics, sociology, urban planning, architecture, and urban iconography. With its unique systematic overview, from Washington DC and revolutionary Paris to the flamboyant twenty-first century capital of Kazakhstan, its wealth of urban observations from all the populated continents, and its sharp and multi-faceted analyses, Cities of Power forces us to rethink our urban future, as well as our historically shaped present.
Reviews / Votes
Goeran Therborn analyses urban life with sweeping historical and global range. As he shows in tremendous detail, urban history is baked into a place by its streets, its institutions and the cultural outlook of its inhabitants -- Max Holleran * Times Literary Supplement * Should become an early port of call for anyone looking to know more about how urban and national power functions around the world * Irish Times * One of the world's most engaging and intriguing sociologists. Cities of Power helps us understand the current tensions between states and people, capitals and peripheries, populism and elitism, nationalism and globalism -- Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, author of <i>Our America: A Hispanic History of the United States</i> Cities of Power is explicitly a riposte to the idea of the Global City, and the peculiar Monocle-magazine vision of trans-national, interconnected, intangible capitalism that it serves to alternately describe and vindicate. Few thinkers display such a genuinely global range -- Owen Hatherley * New Left Review * One more publication in a sparkling list of career accomplishments, Cities of Power might function as an important resource for many a sociology doctoral student -- Luzia Lodder * PopMatters *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Illustrations
8pp b&w plate section
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 126 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
346 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78478-545-1 (9781784785451)
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
05/2017
Verso Books
€24.49
Available for download
Previous edition
Book
05/2017
Verso Books
€44.76
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
Goeran Therborn is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Cambridge and the author of, most recently, Inequality and the Labyrinths of Democracy, also published by Verso. His works have appeared in at least twenty-four languages.