ReplayCity

topics

Publishers

Architecture

ISBN: 9783868590395
German edition
Jovis Verlag
Softcover, 240 pages
17 x 24 cm
black & white
April 2011
€20,75 (excl. VAT)

ReplayCity

Improvisation als urbane Praxis

Christopher Dell

The contemporary city is a multifaceted creature that is not only conditioned by continuing change but also actively shapes this change. This means that we have to fundamentally rethink the city. Focusing on the physical object alone does not suffice anymore. To know what a city is, one needs to ask what a city actually does.

Christopher Dell brings into focus this exciting dynamic: he asks how the city "makes itself", and what kind of conceptions make the handling of an undetermined city possible in a playful and constructive manner. In doing so, Dell identifies a specific type of urban practice, improvisation, which acts and reacts upon the complex urban phenomena of the present. What was seen as a side effect or useless garbage during the industrial phase now becomes a resource. His conclusion is radical: the time has come to recycle improvisation, rethinking it as part of the process and technology of the city.

Please note: This publication is only available in German.