Five Easy Pieces Dedicated To Ludovico Quaroni

The first edition of this book was published in Italian in 1989, about two years after the death of Ludovico Quaroni; this edition in English is addressed mainly to non-Italian scholars with an interest in modern architecture in Italy. Given the imperfect parallel between musical and literary composition, therefore, in this book an intimate intellectual atmosphere prevails, which reveals the author’s skill in creating a narrative and also in engaging in a type of critical writing that is rarely undertaken by architect-intellectuals. The five episodes in the book cover almost thirty years, from 1958 to 1987, which were years that remained deeply preserved in the author’s memory. The literary form of the pieces gives all of them a common structure: they are dialogues; usually consisting of brief exchanges of few words, spoken or written, between the author (Lucio Barbera) and Quaroni. In one of them – Charisma – the dialogue takes place between Quaroni and a larger chorus. In another – Elective Misunderstanding – we have a double dialogue at a distance, a trio, if we return to the musical metaphor, between Quaroni, Lodovico Barbiano di Belgiojoso and Barbera. The last piece is a longer conversation by Quaroni on himself; a taking stock and a valediction. On the frontispiece, Barbera gives a clear indication of his intentions: “For students of Architecture who are well-educated and for architects interested in getting to know better a Master of their trade”.

Placemaking has become a key concept in many disciplines. Due to an increase in digitization, mobilities, migration and rapid changes to the urban environments, it is important to learn how planning and social experts practice it in different contexts. Placemaking in Practice provides an inventory of practices, reflecting on different issues related to placemaking from a pan European perspective. It brings different cases, perspectives, and results analysed under the same purpose, to advance knowledge on placemaking, the actors engaged and results for people. It is backed by an intensive review of recent literature on placemaking, engagement, methods and activism results - towards developing a new placemaking agenda. Placemaking in Practice combines theory, methodology, methods (including digital ones) and their application in a pan-European context and imbedded into a relevant historical context. Contributors are: Branislav Antonić, Tatisiana Astrouskaya,Lucija Ažman Momirski, Anna Louise Bradley, Lucia Brisudová, Monica Bocci, David Buil-Gil, Nevena Dakovic, Alexandra Delgado Jiménez, Despoina Dimelli, Aleksandra Djukic, Nika Đuho, Agisilaos Economou, Ayse Erek, Mastoureh Fathi, Juan A. García-Esparza, Gilles Gesquiere, Nina Goršič, Preben Hansen, Carola Hein, Conor Horan, Erna Husukić, Kinga Kimic, Roland Krebs, Jelena Maric, Edmond Manahasa, Laura Martinez-Izquierdo, Marluci Menezes, Tim Mavric, Bahanaur Nasya, Mircea Negru, Matej Nikšič, Jelena Maric, Paulina Polko, Clara Julia Reich, Francesco Rotondo, Ljiljana Rogac Mijatovi, Tatiana Ruchinskaya, Carlos Smaniotto Costa, Miloslav Šerý, Reka Solymosi, Dina Stober, Juli Székely, Nagayamma Tavares Aragão, Piero Tiano, Cor Wagenaar, and Emina Zejnilović

Featuring 165 expertly reproduced visionary architectural drawings from The Museum of Modern Art's Howard Gilman Archive, this collection brings together a selection of idealized, fantastic and utopian architectural drawings.

Italy and the UK experienced a radical re-organisation of urban space following the devastation of many towns and cities in the Second World War. The need to rebuild led to an intellectual and cultural exchange between a wave of talented architects, urbanists and architectural historians in the two countries. Post-war Architecture Between Italy and the UK studies this exchange, exploring how the connections and mutual influences contributed to the formation of a distinctive stance towards Internationalism, notwithstanding the countries’ contrasting geographic and climatic conditions, levels of economic and industrial development, and social structures. Topics discussed in the volume include the influence of Italian historic town centres on British modernist and Brutalist architectural approaches to the design of housing and university campuses as public spaces; post-war planning concepts such as the precinct; the tensions between British critics and Italian architects that paved the way for British postmodernism; and the role of architectural education as a melting pot of mutual influence. It draws on a wealth of archival and original materials to present insights into the personal relationships, publications, exhibitions and events that provided the crucible for the dissemination of ideas and typologies across cultural borders. Offering new insights into the transcultural aspects of European architectural history in the post-war years, and its legacy, this volume is vital reading for architectural and urban historians, planners and students, as well as social historians of the European post-war period.

The Cinema of Urban Crisis explores the relationships between cinema and urban crises in the United States and Europe in the 1970s. Discussing films by Robert Altman, Stanley Kubrick, and Jean-Luc Godard, among others, Lawrence Webb reflects on processes of globalization and urban change that were beginning to transform cities like New York, London, and Berlin. Throughout, the 1970s are conceptualized as a historically distinctive period of crisis in capitalism, which reorganized urban landscapes and produced cultural innovation, technological change, and new configurations of power and resistance. Addressing themes of interest for film, cultural, and urban studies, this book is a compelling take on cinema from both sides of the Atlantic.

“Modern Italy”may sound like an oxymoron. For Western civilization,Italian culture represents the classical past and the continuity of canonical tradition,while modernity is understood in contrary terms of rupture and rapid innovation. Charting the evolution of a culture renowned for its historical past into the 10 modern era challenges our understanding of both the resilience of tradition and the elasticity of modernity. We have a tendency when imagining Italy to look to a rather distant and definitely premodern setting. The ancient forum, medieval cloisters,baroque piazzas,and papal palaces constitute our ideal itinerary of Italian civilization. The Campo of Siena,Saint Peter’s,all of Venice and San Gimignano satisfy us with their seemingly unbroken panoramas onto historical moments untouched by time;but elsewhere modern intrusions alter and obstruct the view to the landscapes of our expectations. As seasonal tourist or seasoned historian,we edit the encroachments time and change have wrought on our image of Italy. The learning of history is always a complex task,one that in the Italian environment is complicated by the changes wrought everywhere over the past 250 years. Culture on the peninsula continues to evolve with characteristic vibrancy. Italy is not a museum. To think of it as such—as a disorganized yet phenomenally rich museum unchanging in its exhibits—is to misunderstand the nature of the Italian cultural condition and the writing of history itself.