Transnational Architecture and Urbanism: Rethinking How Cities Plan, Transform, and Learn

by Davide Ponzini

Overview

Transnational Architecture and Urbanism combines urban planning, design, policy, and geography studies to offer place-based and project-oriented insight into relevant case studies of urban transformation in Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East.

Since the 1990s, increasingly multinational modes of design have arisen, especially concerning prominent buildings and places. Traditional planning and design disciplines have proven to have limited comprehension of, and little grip on, such transformations. Public and scholarly discussions argue that these projects and transformations derive from socioeconomic, political, cultural trends or conditions of globalization. The author suggests that general urban theories are relevant as background, but of limited efficacy when dealing with such context-bound projects and policies.

This book critically investigates emerging problematic issues such as the spectacularization of the urban environment, the decontextualization of design practice, and the global circulation of plans and projects. The book portends new conceptualizations, evidence-based explanations, and practical understanding for architects, planners, and policy makers to critically learn from practice, to cope with these transnational issues, and to put better planning in place.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415787925
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/02/2020
Series:	Routledge Research in Planning and Urban Design
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Davide Ponzini is Associate Professor of Urban Planning at Politecnico di Milano. He has also been a visiting scholar at Yale, Johns Hopkins, Columbia University, and Sciences Po Paris and Visiting Professor at TU Munich. His research activity focuses on planning theory, urban and cultural policy, and contemporary architecture. He is co-author (with the photographer Michele Nastasi) of Starchitecture, and co-editor (with Harvey Molotch) of The New Arab Urban: Gulf Cities of Wealth, Ambition, and Distress.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations xi

Introduction 1

Part I Transnational architecture and urbanism 9

1 The transnational transformations of contemporary cities 11

1.1 Ubiquitous and homogenizing forces of urban globalization? 11

1.2 Global spread and local transplants: past and recent examples 19

1.3 Contemporary urban narratives, models, and projects 23

1.4 City forms and transnational projects: pressing issues and questions 30

2 Looking for (urban) troubles across disciplines 40

2.1 The architecture/city nexus: old criticisms and contemporary reductions to absurdity 40

2.2 Forms of contemporary urban development: Manhattanism, bigness, and the generic post-metropolis 50

2.3 Glocal urban competition and growth machines 55

2.4 Contemporary architectural and urban knowledge is part of the problem 61

3 A conceptual framework for usable knowledge in contemporary cities 68

3.1 Projects and built forms 69

3.2 Glocal places and multiscalar contexts 75

3.3 Transnational agents and networks 78

3.4 Transnational urban processes 83

3.5 Analyzing transnational projects through their mobilities, circulation, and transfer 87

3.6 A conceptual framework for usable knowledge, not for general urban theories 95

4 Critical approach and pragmatic attitude 104

4.1 Long-term global mapping and urban analysis: forms, agents, and process 105

4.2 The case study method and its limits in investigating transnational issues 107

4.3 Methods for critically understanding transnational architecture and urhanism 110

Part II Critical issues 113

5 Spectacularization of contemporary architecture and the urban environment 115

5.1 Architecture in the society of spectacle 116

5.2 Urban politics and the economies of spectacle 119

5.3 Transnational cultural facilities and their urban expectations: the Guggenheim spectacles 121

5.4 The city wonders in the world: supertall skyscrapers 129

5.5 The Burj Khalifa in Downtown Dubai and beyond 134

5.6 Placing urban spectacles 139

6 Urban personification and the mobilities of global experts 146

6.1 Archistars, urbanistars, and other transnational elites 147

6.2 The "New York by Gehry" building and other personifications 150

6.3 Hadid's, Libeskind's, and Isozaki's projects and the poor planning of Milan's CityLife 152

6.4 Mobilities of urbanistars and planning consultancy groups 162

6.5 Transnational experts and local landings 167

7 Decontextualization of architectural and urban design 172

7.1 Economic and symbolic competitions in a financialized urban world 173

7.2 Transnational design firms' strategies in contemporary cities 176

7.3 The transnational trajectories of Broadway Malyan's firm and projects 181

7.4 Transnational urban development and the disconnect of its design 189

8 Plan circulation and complex transfers 195

8.1 New York's High Line Elevated Park and its transnational circulation 196

8.2 The circulation of a master plan from Vancouver's False Creek to Dubai Marina and beyond 205

8.3 Transferring an urban complex: from Abu Dhabi's Central Market to Abu Dhabi Plaza in Astana 212

9 Transfer of megastructures and buildings 222

9.1 Singapore's new landmark transferred to Chongqing 222

9.2 From Barcelona's Poblenou to Doha's West Bay: the take-off and landing of an iconic skyscraper 230

9.3 Understanding the qualities of transnational projects and places 240

10 Homogenization of central places and urban landscapes 248

10.1 Homogenization and differentiation in contemporary cities 249

10.2 Five ways of comprehending urban homogenization 253

10.3 Transnational geographies and dynamics of urban homogenization 258

Part III Conclusions 265

11 Planning, learning, and dealing with transnational architecture and urbanism 267

11.1 Varied relevance of local planning and the legitimization crisis of urban and design knowledge 267

11.2 A state of unlearning: speed, scale, and the de-politicization of urban planning and architectural design 275

11.3 The little room for maneuvering and making better places 280

12 How can urban planners, designers, and policy makers cope with these issues? 287

12.1 Contextual learning from transnational plans and projects 287

12.2 Less about globalization narratives, more about local problems 292

12.3 Critical paths for research and practice across urban design, planning, and policy making 295

Index 304

Editorial Reviews

"Critical urban scholarship at its best, Transnational Architecture and Urbanism is a thoughtful and balanced approach – deeply embedded in the literature and replete with examples – to the transnational flows of ideas about cities and buildings. This is urban theory as it is meant to be written."

Robert Beauregard, Professor Emeritus, Columbia University

"The subtitle of this book is Rethinking How Contemporary Cities Plan, Transform and Learn, and this is exactly what it delivers. A tight conceptual framework effectively organises a critical analysis of the ubiquitous and homogenizing forces of urban globalization through a series of case studies. Ponzini’s conclusion that ‘contextual learning’ by architects and urban planners, focusing less on the global (though not ignoring it) and more on the local, presents a timely and formidable challenge to the whole community of urbanists and architects who build in cities. With its rich complement of images, this book achieves that unusual but much sought after goal - a text that students, academic researchers, professionals, and indeed anyone interested in cities will find informative, intellectually provocative, visually exciting, and readable."

Leslie Sklair, London School of Economics

From the Publisher