Urban communities / city life Books

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Book SynopsisCities Surround the Countryside: Urban Aesthetics in Postsocialist China analyzes urban aesthetics in the Peoples Republic of China at the turn of the 21st century (1990-2010). Applying empirical field research, historical frameworks, and critical theory to analysis of urban fiction, cinema, art, architecture, and urban planning, the book explores how new forms of urban identity manifest in private lifestyles, local cultures, civic activism, narrative ethics, and urban governance. Cities is unique in its sustained analysis of cultural aesthetics in relation to the built environment and in its contextualization of urban aesthetics within broader economic and intellectual trends.

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Book SynopsisThe study of Roman urbanism – especially its early (Republican) phases – is extensively rooted in the evidence provided by a series of key sites, several of them located in Italy. Some of these Italian towns (e.g. Fregellae, Alba Fucens, Cosa) have received a great deal of scholarly attention in the past and they are routinely referenced as textbook examples, framing much of our understanding of the broad phenomenon of Roman urbanism. However, discussions of these sites tend to fall back on well-established interpretations, with relatively little or no awareness of more recent developments. This is remarkable, since our understanding of these sites has since evolved thanks to new archaeological fieldwork, often characterised by the pursuit of new questions and the application of new approaches. Similarly, new evidence from other sites has since prompted a reconsideration of time-honoured views about the nature, role and long-term trajectory of Roman towns in Italy.Tracing its origins in the Laurence Seminar on Roman Urbanism in Italy: recent discoveries and new directions, which took place at the Faculty of Classics of the University of Cambridge (27–28 May 2022), this volume brings together scholars whose recent work at key sites is contributing to expand, change or challenge our current knowledge and understanding of Roman urbanism in Italy. The individual chapters showcase some of the most recent methods and approaches applied to the study of Roman towns, discussing the broader implications of fresh archaeological discoveries from both well known and less widely known sites, from the Po Plain to Southern Italy, from the Republican to the Late Antique period (and beyond).Table of ContentsList of Contributors 1. Introduction Alessandro Launaro Part I. Methods and approaches 2. Approaches of Roman urbanism in Italy: the example of Falerii Novi Martin Millett 3. The changing face of the eastern Caelian in the 1st–2nd centuries AD: work by the Rome Transformed Project Ian Haynes, Paolo Liverani, Thea Ravasi & Stephen Kay 4. Luck is in the Research Method: Aquinum, the Rediscovery of an ‘Invisible’ Town Giuseppe Ceraudo Part II. Beyond the textbook 5. Cosa, Orbetello, and the Genesis of a Colony. Andrea U. De Giorgi 6. The archaeology of Fregellae: an update Francesca Diosono 7. One should always dress like a marble column (Jackie Kennedy-Onassis). New insights on the urbanism of Alba Fucens Cécile Evers Part III. Not your standard Roman town 8. From sanctuary to settlement. Mapping the development of Lucus Feroniae through geophysical prospection Stephen Kay, Sophie Hay & Christopher Smith 9. Septempeda: integrated approaches for revealing a ‘small town’ in Picenum Frank Vermeulen Part IV. Roman towns in the longue durée 10. Lunae: New Perspectives from Recent Archaeological Fieldwork Simonetta Menchelli, Paolo Sangriso, Silvia Marini & Rocco Marcheschi 11. Interamna Lirenas: how special? Alessandro Launaro 12. A Town and its Road: Aeclanum on the via Appia Ben Russell & Girolamo F. De Simone Part V. Late Antiquity and beyond 13. New archaeological perspective on Late Antique Aquileia Patrizia Basso 14. Bridging the gap. Bridging the gap: new data on the settlement continuity in Parma from the stone bridge Alessia Morigi 15. Conclusion: recent discoveries and new directions John Patterson

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Book SynopsisFor the late great Mike Davis, the ravaging of the climate by capitaland his prescient analysis of its consequences for those of us left to deal with the resulting criseswas always a central part of his urban geography.In these wide ranging, incisive, and hauntingly relevant essays, Davis asks us to consider what we would find if we put a microscope to the ruins of Metropolis, and provides a riveting account of the disastersnatural, man-made, and those (as in the case of climate calamity) where the distinction is impossible to makethat he finds on the other end. He begins his examination by sifting through the rubble of the twin towers in the wake of 9/11, presciently identifying the seeds of war already germinating in the scorched soil of ground zero, and closes by considering how little prepared our hollowed out urban infrastructure is to deal with shocks of any kind, be they from car bombs or ice storms. In between we are treated to tours of blasted wastelands where American generals built and destroyed replicas of Berlin, glimpses of Las Vegas's penchant for annihilating its own best-known landmarks, and other riveting tales of the dialectic between nature and the city.Dead Cities, written over twenty years ago, abounds with prophecies fulfilled, contains echoes of our current moment where conspiracies abound and anxieties drown out official celebrations of prosperity, and offers dreams of alternative paths not taken.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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