1st Edition

Changing Representations of Nature and the City The 1960s-1970s and their Legacies

Edited By Gabriel N. Gee, Alison Vogelaar Copyright 2019
    226 Pages
    by Routledge

    226 Pages
    by Routledge

    The turn of the 1960s-70s, characterized by the rapid acceleration of globalization, prompted a radical transformation in the perception of urban and natural environments. The urban revolution and related prospect of the total urbanisation of the planet, in concert with rapid population growth and resource exploitation, instigated a surge in environmental awareness and activism. One implication of this moment is a growing recognition of the integration and interconnection of natural and urban entities. The present collection is an interdisciplinary inquiry into the changing modes of representation of nature in the city beginning from the turn of the 1960s/70s. Bringing together a number of different disciplinary approaches, including architectural studies and aesthetics, heritage studies and economics, environmental science and communication, the collection reflects upon the changing perception of socio-natures in the context of increasing urban expansion and global interconnectedness as they are/were manifest in specific representations. Using cases studies from around the globe, the collection offers a historical and theoretical understanding of a paradigmatic shift whose material and symbolic legacies are still accompanying us in the early 21st century.

    Introduction: global cities, global nature (Gabriel Gee & Alison Vogelaar) Part I: Forgotten Spaces 1. Beyond Narcissus: the sea and the metamorphosis of port-cities in the late twentieth century (Gabriel N. Gee) 2. Bangkok against its nature (Worrasit Tantinipankul) 3. Growing up in a Steel Mill: a Conversation with Historian and Nature-lover Elmer J. Hall (Michelle L. Stefano) 4. Looking beyond the image of ‘the wasteland’: Newark, New Jersey (Lori M. Gibbs) Part II: Artificial Spaces 5. Passages: From Artificial Animal to Planetary Man (Paolo Perulli) 6. Luigi Ghirri: the theatre of landscape (Giuliano Sergio) 7. Nature, plastic, artifice: in conversation with Tuula Närhinen (Tuula Närhinen & Gabriel Gee) 8. Naturally Representative: the Environmental Planning of the New African Capitals Abuja and Dodoma (Ayala Levin) 9. Grey, Green, Gold (Uriel Orlow) Part III: Interstitial Spaces 10. Reyner Banham’s Desert Landscapes 11. (Eliana Sousa Santos) 12. ‘Nature’ in interstice: reflections on China's "Obscure Poetry" in the 1970s (Jundan Zhang) 13. The Green Corridor: a vision for Lisbon (Maria Joao Matos) 14. Weather, science & cinema: in conversation with Conor McFeely (Conor McFeely & Gabriel Gee) 15. The Postcolonial Garden City? Changing Representations of Nature in Christchurch, New Zealand (Alison Vogelaar and Brack Hale)

    Biography

    Gabriel N. Gee is Assistant Professor in Art History at Franklin University, Switzerland.



    Alison Vogelaar is Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Franklin University, Switzerland.

    "This ambitious publication makes an original contribution to our understanding of the changing perceptions of nature within the urban from the late 1960s/1970s. Architectural, visual and material culture case studies that include considerations of heritage, communication, and ecological perspectives from the UK, Europe, US and Asia contribute to its originality and offer new ways of thinking about and reflecting upon a major shift in contemporary global culture." -- Fran Lloyd, Kingston University, UK