Neoliberalism on the Ground: Architecture and Transformation from the 1960s to the Present

Architecture and urbanism have contributed to one of the most sweeping transformations of our times. Over the past four decades, neoliberalism has been not only a dominant paradigm in politics but a process of bricks and mortar in everyday life. Rather than to ask what a neoliberal architecture looks like, or how architecture represents neoliberalism, this volume examines the multivalent role of architecture and urbanism in geographically variable yet interconnected processes of neoliberal transformation across scales--from China, Turkey, South Africa, Argentina, Mexico, the United States, Britain, Sweden, and Czechoslovakia. Analyzing how buildings and urban projects in different regions since the 1960s have served in the implementation of concrete policies such as privatization, fiscal reform, deregulation, state restructuring, and the expansion of free trade, contributors reveal neoliberalism as a process marked by historical contingency. Neoliberalism on the Ground fundamentally reframes accepted narratives of both neoliberalism and postmodernism by demonstrating how architecture has articulated changing relationships between state, society, and economy since the 1960s.

Author: Kenny Cupers
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Published: 02/25/2020
Pages: 448
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.90lbs
Size: 10.10h x 7.30w x 1.30d
ISBN: 9780822946014

About the Author
Kenny Cupers (Editor)
Kenny Cupers is associate professor of history and theory of architecture and urbanism at the University of Basel, where he cofounded and leads its new division of urban studies.

Helena Mattsson (Editor)
Helena Mattsson is professor in theory and history at KTH School of Architecture.

Catharina Gabrielsson (Editor)
Catharina Gabrielsson is associate professor in urban theory and docent in architecture at the KTH School of Architecture.