Cities
‘Cities’ by John Reader; William Heinemann, 2004. 358pp Reviewed by Austin Williams | 13 January 2006 I thoroughly enjoyed this book although at times I was quite confused by the author’s critique. Funnily enough, this, for me, made it an even more enjoyable exercise, absorbing the engaging facts and entertaining stories while trying to work out what the author really thought about it all. This is an intellectual...
Collapse
‘Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive’ by Jared Diamond; Allan Lane, 2005. 590pp Reviewed by Peter Smith | 9 November 2005 With Collapse, Jared Diamond has essentially written two books. Firstly, a series of four case studies examining ancient societies that subsequently collapsed; the East Islanders, the Anasazi in the south west US, the Maya in the Yucatan which forms part of Mexico today and the Norse in...
Taking a Risk
Austin Williams | 8 September 2005 On the very day that the Architects’ Journal was holding its conference on changes in Health and Safety legislation, focussing on how to manage risk, so the House of Lords was hosting a conference focussing on worries that risk culture had gone too far. So at the same time that I was getting a short shrift from Stephen Wright of the Health and Safety Executive for questioning what I called the...
Sustainability and the moral right
Austin Williams | 12 May 2005 ‘The problem is that people like you think that they can deny the reality of events: like David Irving, you are denying the problem.’ Now I’m used to being insulted, but it still amazes me how many people that I have never met before, feel as if they have the right to insult me simply because they are unable to come to terms with the fact that I have a contrary position to them. However,...
ESSAY: False Urban Memory Syndrome
Austin Williams | 13 May 2004 The urban memory debate is one in which aspects of the city (town, or village) – hidden quarters, alleys or buried artefacts – are revived into the modern setting to provide an added dimension to people’s appreciation of the built environment. Not only that but abstractions such as memories, historical events or folklore from a previous generation are captured, reinterpreted and given a...
Orhan Pamuk’s ‘Snow’
‘Snow’ by Orhan Pamuk; Faber and Faber, 2005. 440pp Reviewed by Michael Willoughby | 10 May 2005 In Greece, the loved ones of sick people hang votive offerings at the altars of saints in the belief that it will help the sick person’s recovery. These Tamata are rectangular pieces of metal with miniature body parts attached to them. Orthodox churches are festooned with the images of sick feet, kidneys, ears and eyes....
The Anxious City
‘The Anxious City: British Urbanism in the late 20th Century’ by Richard J Williams; Routledge, 2004. 281pp Reviewed by Austin Williams | 28 April 2005 This is a very well researched, incredibly detailed and thoroughly insightful critique of the apprehensive period in which we live represented in a critique of a number of British cities. Through a series of case studies of cities across the UK, Richard J Williams, lecturer...
The Academics of the Madhouse
Austin Williams | 31 March 2005 Revised criteria for university research funding are causing much protest. But is the solution being argued for any better? The ‘strictly private and confidential’ memo sent to Daily Telegraph staff in February outlined five criteria on which their performance and hence their status in the compulsory redundancy hierarchy would be judged. The five categories were: 1. Approach to work (their...
The vacuity of ‘critical pluralism’
‘Sustainable Architecture: Cultures and Natures in Europe and North America’ by Simon Guy and Steven Moore (Eds); Spon Press, 2005. 269pp Reviewed by Austin Williams | 3 March 2005 Yet another tome from the Newcastle home of new-sustainability with a hands-across-the-sea research link with American and north European Universities. Guy, together with Graham Farmer who also has an essay here, are both from Newcastle’s School...
Dark Age Ahead
‘Dark Age Ahead’ by Jane Jacobs; Random House, 2004. pp241 Reviewed by Austin Williams | 13 January 2005 Aged 88 when this book was published, Jane Jacobs is certainly the grande dame of urbanism and it must be worrying for this book to be described on the dust jacket as ‘the crowning achievement’ of her career. While its title sounds like yet another millenarian offering – in the spirit of Sir Martin Rees’ ‘Our Final...
Listen in
Next meeting
Publications
NEW TITLE
