Projected Cities
‘Projected Cities: Cinema and Urban Space’ by Stephen Barber; Reaktion Books, 2002. 208pp Review by Austin Williams | 26 June 2003 This is the latest in the ‘Locations’ series of books examining the relationship between cinema and broader cultural themes or national context. This book specifically addresses the way cities have been portrayed. As with many Reaktion books, the theme suffers from a cultural...
Where’s my Space Age?
‘Where’s my Space Age?’ by Sean Topham; Prestel, 2003, pp160 Review by Austin Williams | 31 July 2003 This fascinating book, written by Seam Topham (who’s recent book ‘Blow Up’ was reviewed in the Architects’ Journal), asks ‘whatever happened to the space age?’ Constructed in three parts, with a two-page conclusion at the end, the book examines the historical moment of space...
The future of mobility
Three debates organised by the Transport Research Group at the Bloomberg Auditorium, London Reviewed by Dave Clements | June 2003 In this series of three debates we were asked to consider – are more cars a problem, do we need more infrastructure, and does mobility matter anyway? As Austin Williams, director of the Transport Research Group, noted in his address, transport policy has become a popular concern, and lost its former...
Therapy for Gaia
Austin Williams | 22 May 2003 For those who believe in the concept of Gaia – the planet as a living organism – the latest European Environment Agency (EEA) report reads like a sick note. Whereas some environmentalists have diagnosed the planet as terminally ill, the EEA takes a more modern approach and simply suggests that it is in need of therapy. Forests are “damaged”; the soil is “degraded”; fish...
Scared out of the sky
Peter Smith | 7 March 2003 Statistics that tell us we are 155 times more likely to die in a car crash than on an aeroplane have consistently failed to reassure a sizeable minority who are frightened of air travel (1). Now, the air industry’s overreaction to terror threats is fuelling the post-9/11 fear of flying. Stunts like the recent deployment of armed troops to most major UK airports and tanks to London Heathrow to guard...
The Smoke clears
Austin Williams | 19 December 2002 In a recent Greater London Authority (GLA) publication, Ken Livingstone remembers the London fog of 1952. ‘Its main impact’, he says, ‘was that we didn’t have to go to school for a few days’ (1). For an event that reputedly killed thousands of London residents, this might not seem the most empathetic response of the Mayor of London, but smogs were often treated as no...
Areas of grave concern
Austin Williams | 23 Nov 2002 Why are children in poor neighbourhoods more at risk of traffic accidents? In an article that originally appeared in the Daily Telegraph, Austin Williams investigates. Children in poor areas are at more risk of being knocked down by a car than those from more affluent areas. This is the startling conclusion to the latest Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) report, Streets Ahead: Safe and liveable...
Cities for a Small Country
‘Cities for a Small Country: The Future of Cities’ by Anne Power and Richard Rogers; Faber and Faber, 2000. 314pp Review by Austin Williams | 11 January 2001 In his introduction Will Hutton kicks off the argument that more socially balanced neighbourhoods ‘have to be constructed and designed’. There then follows 300 pages of morally charged argument about how to do it and why. ‘Social mix’ figures...
Splintering Urbanism
‘Splintering Urbanism: Networked Infrastructures, Technological Mobilities and the Urban Condition’ by Stephen Graham and Simon Marvin; Routledge, 2001. 512pp Review by Austin Williams | 20 December 2001 This important book develops the authors’ 1996 analysis of contested flows in ‘Telecommunications and the City: Electronic spaces, Urban Places’. In that book, the authors’ views were left to the...
Gimme Shelter
Austin Williams | 2 June 2003 Several years ago, Martin Valatin, representing the (non-Orwellian) organization Architects for Peace and Social Responsibility, wrote glowingly about the Mathare squatter settlement in Kenya – a place where 400,000 human beings were forced to live in an abandoned quarry. “In spite of the crime, drugs and unsanitary congestion there’s a spatial richness in places like Mathare,” he...
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