Dreams + Disillusions explores the plethora of ideas and ideologies that have shaped and reshaped cities in profound ways. However, unlike a conventional title on the history of urbanism and architecture, its research fluctuates between the world of concrete reality and the multiple universes that exist in lucid prose, poetic visions, and the outrageous imaginations of history’s greatest and most (in)famous minds. In their thoughts are the foundations for political trends and new ...

Once Upon a China is an unconventional architectural story of great beauty, empathy, honour and sadness. The chapters are ingenious reimaginations of ‘Dream of the Red Mansion’, ‘Journey to the West ’, ‘The Water Margin’, and ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’, and are conceived as specific themes of Chinese identity: domesticity, consumerism, democracy and adaptability. These four seminal pre-modern fictions contain diverse voices and philosophical perspectives on history as well as...

Embedding memories into landscape. Measuring moisture, pressure and wind speed within a bedroom. Drawing power with a potato. These are but a few of the preoccupations described within this book. ‘Devices’ is a manual celebrating the invention of architectural and spatial machines. Nostalgic, metaphorical, analytical or even the down-right daft, each of the illustrated pieces demonstrates the potential for spatial occupation, leading to new territories in architectural design. A detailed a...

In Food City, a companion piece to Smartcities and Eco-Warriors, innovative architect and urban designer CJ Lim explores the issue of urban transformation and how the creation, storage and distribution of food has been and can again become a construct for the practice of everyday life. Food City investigates the reinstatement of food at the core of national and local governance -- how it can be a driver to restructure employment, education, transport, tax, health...

Following on from the success of the first edition, Smartcities + Eco-Warriors (2010), this book is the latest innovative response on urban resilience from one of the world’s leading urban design and architectural thinkers. An ecological symbiosis between nature, society and the built form, the Smartcity cultivates new spatial practices and creates diverse forms of resilient landscapes including and beyond urban agriculture.The notion of the Smartcity is developed through ...

Inhabitable Infrastructures: Science fiction or urban future?, the follow up to Food City and Smartcities and Eco-Warriors, from one of the world’s leading urban design and architectural thinkers, explores the potential of climate change-related multi-use infrastructures that address the fundamental human requirements to protect, to provide and to participate. The stimulus for the infrastructures derives from postulated scenarios and processes gleaned from science fiction...

Shortlisted for the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction 2011.Life is on the up.We are wealthier, healthier, happier, kinder, cleaner, more peaceful, more equal and longer-lived than any previous generation. Thanks to the unique human habits of exchange and specialisation, our species has found innovative solutions to every obstacle it has faced so far.In ‘The Rational Optimist’, acclaimed science writer Matt Ridley comprehensively refutes the doom-mongers of ou...

This "guide to weird, ruined, and wonderful spots" across the globe explores disappearing islands, forbidden deserts, and much more—a "terrific book" ( Los Angeles Times).At a time when Google Maps Street View can take you on a virtual tour of Yosemite's remotest trails, it's hard to imagine there's any uncharted ground left on the planet. But in Unruly Places, Alastair Bonnett rekindles our geographical imaginations with excursions into some of t...

Strawberries in January, fresh tomatoes year-round and New Zealand lamb at all times -- these well-travelled foods have a carbon footprint the size of an SUV. But there is a burgeoning local food movement taking place in Canadian cities, farms and shops that is changing both the way we eat and the way we think about food.Locavore describes how foodies,100-milers, urbanites, farmers, gardeners and chefs across Canada are creating a new local food order that has the potentia...

Imagine perspective without pain-no T-squares, complicated equations or mechanical terms-just simple instructions and hands-on exercises to teach you how to create a sense of depth in your drawings and paintings. Now go a step further-imagine having fun with perspective. With this book, you will. Here Phil Metzger give you clear-cut guidelines in everyday terms-with a lot of friendliness and a little humor tossed in along the way. As an experienced artist, he understands how you work, and ...

The quiet revolution of mega-farming that is threatening our countryside, farms and food.'This eye-opening book . . . deserves global recognition' Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall'Devastating . . . demands reading and deserves the widest possible audience' Joanna Lumley'He is informed enough to be appalled, and moderate enough to persuade us to take responsibility for the system that feeds us' Guardian: Book of ...

Everyone knows that the planet is in trouble, but is there a solution? This timely book identifies the most effective ways individuals can be more green in four key areas: home, travel, food, and consumerism. It also describes how citizens can ensure that governments take the actions necessary to make sustainable lifestyles the norm instead of the exception. Environmental lawyer David Boyd and celebrated ecologist David Suzuki provide vital tips for choosi...