Against Urban Perfection, Towards Collective Alternatives
by René Boer ; design Kees de Klein
- Author(s)
- René Boer
- Publication
- Amsterdam : Valiz, 2023
- Scope
- 320 Pages, illustrated, 19 cm.
- ISBN
- 9789493246201
In cities around the world René Bos observes a new urban condition spreading rapidly: an ever-increasing push for ‘perfection’, efficiency and control and the active eradication of any aberration, friction or alternative. This, what he calls ‘smooth city’ with its sanitized spaces and new technologies compresses urban life into a seamless experience. While the demand for safe, clean, and well-functioning urban environments is understandable, Bos argues that the rise of the smooth city undermines the democratic nature and emancipatory potential of cities, while leaving almost no space for anything that is experimental, non-normative, transgressive or otherwise out of tune. With ‘Smooth City’ Bos provides a framework to criticize the enormous and in many ways problematic impact of 'smoothness' on cities everywhere, by investigating its origins, characteristics and consequences. At the same time, he offers a starting point to challenge the obsession with perfection and instead collectively work towards much needed alternatives.
- Keywords
- critical aesthetics , urban planning , city
- Location
- Cabinet 18 - 1: Stedelijke tranformatie
- Remarks
- Includes notes, bibliography, biographies
