The relationship between politics and the public relations industry is controversial and, at times, polemic. However, one component of this relationship that has yet to be investigated is the role of architecture. Arguing for a fundamental reconfiguration of our understanding of 'political architecture', this book suggests it is not only a question of constructed buildings, but equally a case of mediated imagery. Considered through examples of architecture as a backdrop for photo shoots by politicians in the democracies of the United States and the United Kingdom, this book suggests these images give us both a better understanding of recent developments in the Western political economy and the architectural and urban developments of the late 20th and early 21st Centuries. Using case studies of Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, David Cameron, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Donald Trump, this book represents a ground-breaking triangular analysis that will be essential reading for scholars in architecture, politics, media and communication studies.

The relationship between politics and the public relations industry is controversial and, at times, polemic. However, one component of this relationship that has yet to be investigated is the role of architecture. Arguing for a fundamental reconfiguration of our understanding of 'political architecture', this book suggests it is not only a question of constructed buildings, but equally a case of mediated imagery. Considered through examples of architecture as a backdrop for photo shoots by politicians in the democracies of the United States and the United Kingdom, this book suggests these images give us both a better understanding of recent developments in the Western political economy and the architectural and urban developments of the late 20th and early 21st Centuries. Using case studies of Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, David Cameron, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Donald Trump, this book represents a ground-breaking triangular analysis that will be essential reading for scholars in architecture, politics, media and communication studies.

Reflections on Architecture, Society and Politics brings together a series of thirteen interview-articles by Graham Cairns in collaboration with some of the most prominent polemic thinkers and critical practitioners from the fields of architecture and the social sciences, including Noam Chomsky, Peggy Deamer, Robert A.M. Stern, Daniel Libeskind and Kenneth Frampton. Each chapter explores the relationship between architecture and socio-political issues through discussion of architectural theories and projects, citing specific issues and themes that have led to, and will shape, the various aspects of the current and future built environment. Ranging from Chomsky's examination of the US-Mexico border as the architecture of oppression to Robert A.M. Stern's defence of projects for the Disney corporation and George W. Bush, this book places politics at the center of issues within contemporary architecture.

A unique examination of the role architecture plays in the media-politico spectacle which plays out in today's mass media. Written by 14 influential academics, it draws on case studies from across timeframes and across nations including the US, UK, China, Eastern Europe, South Korea, Belgium and Austria. Illustrated with over 30 black and white illustrations

A unique examination of the role architecture plays in the media-politico spectacle which plays out in today's mass media. Written by 14 influential academics, it draws on case studies from across timeframes and across nations including the US, UK, China, Eastern Europe, South Korea, Belgium and Austria. Illustrated with over 30 black and white illustrations

Reflections on Architecture, Society and Politics brings together a series of thirteen interview-articles by Graham Cairns in collaboration with some of the most prominent polemic thinkers and critical practitioners from the fields of architecture and the social sciences, including Noam Chomsky, Peggy Deamer, Robert A.M. Stern, Daniel Libeskind and Kenneth Frampton. Each chapter explores the relationship between architecture and socio-political issues through discussion of architectural theories and projects, citing specific issues and themes that have led to, and will shape, the various aspects of the current and future built environment. Ranging from Chomsky's examination of the US-Mexico border as the architecture of oppression to Robert A.M. Stern's defence of projects for the Disney corporation and George W. Bush, this book places politics at the center of issues within contemporary architecture.

Visioning Technologies brings together a collection of texts from leading theorists to examine how architecture has been, and is, reframed and restructured by the visual and theoretical frameworks introduced by different 'technologies of sight' - understood to include orthographic projection, perspective drawing, telescopic devices, photography, film and computer visualization, amongst others. Each chapter deals with its own area and historical period of expertise, organized sequentially to mark out and analyse the historical evolution of how architecture has been transformed by technologically induced shifts in human perception from the 15th century until today. This book underlines the way in which architectural forms and design processes have developed historically in conjunction with the systems of sight we manufacture technologically and suggests this continues today. Paradoxically, it is premised on the argument that these technological systems tend, in their initial formulations, to obtain ever greater realism in our visualizations of the physical world.

Visioning Technologies brings together a collection of texts from leading theorists to examine how architecture has been, and is, reframed and restructured by the visual and theoretical frameworks introduced by different 'technologies of sight' - understood to include orthographic projection, perspective drawing, telescopic devices, photography, film and computer visualization, amongst others. Each chapter deals with its own area and historical period of expertise, organized sequentially to mark out and analyse the historical evolution of how architecture has been transformed by technologically induced shifts in human perception from the 15th century until today. This book underlines the way in which architectural forms and design processes have developed historically in conjunction with the systems of sight we manufacture technologically and suggests this continues today. Paradoxically, it is premised on the argument that these technological systems tend, in their initial formulations, to obtain ever greater realism in our visualizations of the physical world.

This work has two main themes: how ideas about the mind evolved in science; and how the mind itself evolved in nature. The mind came into physical science when it was realised, first, that it is the activity of a physical object, a brain, which makes a mind; and secondly, that our theories of nature are largely mental constructions, artificial extensions of an inner model of the world which we inherited from our distant ancestors. From both of these perspectives, consciousness is the great enigma. If consciousness evolved, however, it is in some sense a material thing whatever else may be said of it. Physics, chemistry, molecular biology, brain function and evolutionary biology - almost the whole of science - is involved, and there can be no expert in all these fields. So the style of the book is simple, almost conversational. The excitement of the book lies in the fact that the reader is able to feel close to a scientific theory of consciousness.

This collection considers the city of the future and its relationship to its citizens. It responds to the foregrounding of digital technologies in the management of urban spaces, and addresses some of the ways in which technologies are changing the places in which we live and the way we live in them. A broad range of interdisciplinary contributors reflect on the global agenda of smart cities, the ruptures in smart discourse and the spaces where we might envisage a more user-friendly and bottom-up version of the smart future. The authors adopt an equality studies lens to assess how we might conceive of a future smart city and what fissures need to be addressed to ensure the smart future is equitable. In the project of envisaging this, they consider various approaches and arguments for equality in the imagined future city, putting people at the forefront of our discussions, rather than technologies. In the smart discourse, hard data, technological solutions, global and national policy and macro issues tend to dominate. Here, the authors include ethnographic evidence, rather than rely on the perspective of the smart technologies' experts, so that the arena for meaningful social development of the smart future can develop. The international contributors respond purposefully to the smart imperative, to the disruptive potential of smart technologies in our cities: issues of change, design, austerity, ownership, citizenship and equality. The collection examines the pull between equality and engagement in smart futures. To date, the topic of smart cities has been approached from the perspective of digital media, human geography and information communications technology. This collection, however, presents a different angle. It seeks to open new discussions about what a smart future could do to bridge divides, to look at governmentality in the context of (in)equality in the city. The collection is an approachable discussion of the issues that surround smart digital futures and the imagined digital cities of the future. It is aspirational in that it seeks to imagine a truly egalitarian city of the future and to ponder how that might come about. Primary readership will be academics and students in social science, architecture, urban planning, government employees, and those working or studying in social justice and equality studies

The next great revolution in science will undoubtedly be the emergence of a useful theory of consciousness--a theory based on our better understanding of molecules and brains and of the nature of science itself. Evolving the Mind broaches both of these themes, covering how ideas about the mind evolved in science and how the mind itself evolved in Nature. What Cairns-Smith does that is particularly compelling is to synthesize the contributions of a wide range of scientific disciplines (physics, molecular biology, brain science, and evolution) to bring science to the brink of a unified theory of consciousness. The author thoroughly explores this complex concept in a straightforward, conversational style. Few readers will be able to resist the exciting conclusion that we are closing in on a scientific theory of consciousness.

In London, a leading capital of global finance, there is a chronic shortage of affordable housing. The crisis is at levels not seen since World War II. In Beijing, capital of the twenty-first century's political powerhouse, the displacement of long-standing communities is a daily occurrence. In Mumbai, the biggest health risk faced by the city today has been identified as overcrowded housing, while in Sao Paulo, football's 2014 World Cup took place against a backdrop of community unrest and the chronic living conditions of the poor. The private sector, the state and residents themselves are searching for solutions. Whether housing refugees in conflict areas, providing safe water to the households in the developing world or ensuring key workers can live in the cities they support in the West, the question of housing is not only global, but critical. This book, the third and final in the 'Housing the Future' series, is inspired by the need to deal with a critical issue at a critical time - the provision of affordable and decent housing. Whilst the focus of the series has been on design approaches around housing, it will become clear in reading the diverse contributions in this book that design cannot, and perhaps should not, be isolated from the social, economic, political and cultural issues that are inevitably in play when we discuss housing. On that basis, as we will see in this book, the provision of adequate housing can be considered as one of the most important political problems today: an issue played out against a background of disparate policy interventions, resistances and conflicting aspirations; an issue involving architects, planners, developers, sociologists, artists, housing associations, community representatives, policy makers and more. The book comes out of the Housing -Critical Futures research programme led by the academic non-profit organisation AMPS (Architecture, Media, Politics, Society). It has been produced in collaboration with Swinburne University.

Housing Solutions through Design explores housing design with a special focus on affordability. It gives the perspectives of academics who research and teach on housing; professionals who design and build, and students who are learning. The book foregrounds innovative approaches of the designers of today and tomorrow. This book is the second in the Housing the Future Series, one of the aims of which is to collate a broad sample of the work being done from a design perspective in universities across the world on the issue of affordable housing. This very 'real' engagement with the issues of housing affordability is a key component of this series and is why the series invites practitioners to discuss their work. In Housing Solutions through Design, those practitioners include an award-winning commercial practice from the UK, Shed KM, and two of the most important reference points in the area of housing affordability and community development internationally - the world-renowned Herman Hertzberger, from the Netherlands, and the US-based but internationally active Habitat for Humanity. The inclusion of the work of such practices is not simply important because of their undoubted international status: it is important because of the work they do and the role models they represent for a generation of architects and designers who, in the coming years, will be faced with the need - and the opportunity - to develop new approaches to housing design.

Housing the Future - Alternative Approaches for Tomorrow offers three perspectives on the problems of housing today with an eye on tomorrow. It brings together world-leading practising architects with academics from seven countries and teams of international students. World leaders in the field of residential design such as UN Habitat Award winner Avi Friedman present built projects whose design criteria and aims they lay out in text. Academics from the UK, the USA, Spain, Germany and elsewhere follow these project descriptions with extended essays from a more theoretical perspective but remain focused on the realities of practice. Finally, ideas on current housing problems from the next generation of designers are brought together in student projects from Europe and North America. With an introduction by Dr Graham Cairns, this book highlights the practice of residential design internationally at a time when affordable housing provision is seen as a critical issue by designers, planners and policy makers alike.

This is a book conceived in the ever widening realm of design practice and education. It is premised on the belief that the forces of globalisation that have affected design practice for decades have, in recent years, manifest themselves in design education as well. Consequently, it brings authors, practitioners and educators together from ten countries across six continents. They each offer an overview of the socio-cultural and economic factors that affect the built environment in their particular region of the world. They discuss how the practices of architecture, interior design, planning and landscape architecture interact with those forces but, equally as importantly, they discuss how design education does the same. This book then, is written by and for practitioners, educators and students of the built environment whose critical eye is prepared to scan the globe for lessons that are both universally, but also specifically applicable to their own geographical and discipline context. It is more specifically geared to those who see the built environment through a socio-political prism - as a phenomenon shaped by this broader none design context - but also as a model through which we can better understand that external context.