Italian writer and filmmaker Gianni Celati's 1989 philosophical travelogue Towards the River's Mouth explores perception, memory, place and space as it recounts a series of journeys across the Po River Valley in northern Italy. The book seeks to document the "new Italian landscape" where divisions between the urban and rural were being blurred into what Celati terms "a new variety of countryside where one breathes an air of urban solitude." Celati traveled by train, by bus, and on foot, at times with photographer Luigi Ghirri, at others exploring on his own without predetermined itineraries, taking notes on the places he encountered, watching and listening to people in stations, fields, bars, houses, squares, and hotels. In this way the book took shape as Celati traveled and wrote, gathering and rewriting his notes into "stories of observation" (9). Celati attempts to find meaning by seeking the uncertain limits of our ability to discern everyday surroundings. "Every observation," as he puts it, "needs liberate itself from the familiar codes it carries, to go adrift in the middle of all things not understood, in order to arrive at an outlet, where it must feel lost." At the forefront of the then-nascent spatial turn in the humanities, Towards the River's Mouth is a key text of what in recent years has been variously termed literary cartography, literary geography, and spatial poetics. Its call to carefully and affectionately examine our surroundings while attempting to step back from habitual ways of perceiving and moving through space, has resonated as much with literary scholars and other writers as with geographers and architects. By now a classic of twentieth-century Italian literature, it has in recent years garnered increasing attention, especially with the growth of ecocriticism and new materialism within the environmental humanities. This edition, translated into English for the first time, features an introduction that places Towards the River's Mouth in the context of Celati's other work, and a selection of ten scholarly essays by prominent figures in comparative literature and Italian studies.

This pathbreaking book analyzes a highly successful participatory development program in Indonesia, exploring its distinctive origins and design principles and its impacts on local conflict dynamics and social institutions.

As planners and designers have turned their attentions to the blighted, vacant areas of the city, the concept of "terrain vague," has become increasingly important. Terrain Vague seeks to explore the ambiguous spaces of the city -- the places that exist outside the cultural, social, and economic circuits of urban life. From vacant lots and railroad tracks, to more diverse interstitial spaces, this collection of original essays and cases presents innovative ways of looking at marginal urban space, with studies from the United States, Europe and the Middle East, from a diverse group of planners, geographers, and urban designers. Terrain Vague is a cooperative effort to redefine these marginal spaces as a central concept for urban planning and design. Presenting innovative ways of looking at marginal urban space, and focusing on its positive uses and aspects, the book will be of interest to all those wishing to understand our increasingly complex everyday surroundings, from planners, cultural theorists, and academics, to designers and architects.

As planners and designers have turned their attentions to the blighted, vacant areas of the city, the concept of "terrain vague," has become increasingly important. Terrain Vague seeks to explore the ambiguous spaces of the city -- the places that exist outside the cultural, social, and economic circuits of urban life. From vacant lots and railroad tracks, to more diverse interstitial spaces, this collection of original essays and cases presents innovative ways of looking at marginal urban space, with studies from the United States, Europe and the Middle East, from a diverse group of planners, geographers, and urban designers. Terrain Vague is a cooperative effort to redefine these marginal spaces as a central concept for urban planning and design. Presenting innovative ways of looking at marginal urban space, and focusing on its positive uses and aspects, the book will be of interest to all those wishing to understand our increasingly complex everyday surroundings, from planners, cultural theorists, and academics, to designers and architects.

The overlapping crises of COVID-19, climate change, and rising levels of conflict are exacerbating global inequalities. This book offers a definition and framework for social sustainability, as well as examples and concrete guidance on how development can foster progress towards it.

This volume brings together, for the first time - in Italy or for an English-speaking audience - a collection of over 40 authors from the deep and broad tradition of Italian environmental writing. Poetry and prose, the essay, the political and economic tract, and the new visual arts are all represented in this collection.

Why are some places successful in moving from war to consolidated peace while others continue to be troubled by violence? And why does postconflict violence take different forms and have different intensities? By developing a new theory of postconflict violence Patrick Barron's When Violence Works makes a significant contribution to our understanding. Barron picks out three postconflict regions in Indonesia in which to analyze what happens once the "official" fighting ends: North Maluku has seen peace consolidated; Maluku still witnesses large episodes of violence; and Aceh experiences continuing occurrences of violence but on a smaller scale than in Maluku. He argues that violence after war has ended (revenge killings, sexual violence, gang battles, and violent crime, in addition to overtly political conflict) is not the result of failed elite bargains or weak states, but occurs because the actors involved see it as beneficial and lowcost. His findings pertain directly to Indonesia, but the theory will have relevance far beyond as those studying countries such as Colombia, the Philippines, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria seek a framework in which to assess what happens after war ends. Barron's theory also provides practical guidance for policymakers and development practitioners. Ultimately, When Violence Works pushes forward our understanding of why postconflict violence occurs and takes the forms it does.