City Halls and Civic Materialism

Towards a Global History of Urban Public Space

Nonfiction, Art & Architecture, Architecture, Public, Commercial, or Industrial Buildings, History
Cover of the book City Halls and Civic Materialism by , Taylor and Francis
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: ISBN: 9781317802273
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Publication: March 14, 2014
Imprint: Routledge Language: English
Author:
ISBN: 9781317802273
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Publication: March 14, 2014
Imprint: Routledge
Language: English

The town hall or city hall as a place of local governance is historically related to the founding of cities in medieval Europe. As the space of representative civic authority it aimed to set the terms of public space and engagement with the citizenry. In subsequent centuries, as the idea and built form travelled beyond Europe to become an established institution across the globe, the parameters of civic representation changed and the town hall was forced to negotiate new notions of urbanism and public space.

City Halls and Civic Materialism: Towards a Global History of Urban Public Spaceutilizes the town hall in its global historical incarnations as bases to probe these changing ideas of urban public space*.* The essays in this volume provide an analysis of the architecture, iconography, and spatial relations that constitute the town hall to explore its historical ability to accommodate the "public" in different political and social contexts, in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Americas, as the relation between citizens and civic authority had to be revisited with the universal franchise, under fascism, after the devastation of the world wars, decolonization, and most recently, with the neo-liberal restructuring of cities.

As a global phenomenon, the town hall challenges the idea that nationalism, imperialism, democracy, the idea of citizenship – concepts that frame the relation between the individual and the body politic -- travel the globe in modular forms, or in predictable trajectories from the West to East, North to South. Collectively the essays argue that if the town hall has historically been connected with the articulation of bourgeois civil society, then the town hall as a global spatial type -- architectural space, urban monument, and space of governance -- holds a mirror to the promise and limits of civil society.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The town hall or city hall as a place of local governance is historically related to the founding of cities in medieval Europe. As the space of representative civic authority it aimed to set the terms of public space and engagement with the citizenry. In subsequent centuries, as the idea and built form travelled beyond Europe to become an established institution across the globe, the parameters of civic representation changed and the town hall was forced to negotiate new notions of urbanism and public space.

City Halls and Civic Materialism: Towards a Global History of Urban Public Spaceutilizes the town hall in its global historical incarnations as bases to probe these changing ideas of urban public space*.* The essays in this volume provide an analysis of the architecture, iconography, and spatial relations that constitute the town hall to explore its historical ability to accommodate the "public" in different political and social contexts, in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Americas, as the relation between citizens and civic authority had to be revisited with the universal franchise, under fascism, after the devastation of the world wars, decolonization, and most recently, with the neo-liberal restructuring of cities.

As a global phenomenon, the town hall challenges the idea that nationalism, imperialism, democracy, the idea of citizenship – concepts that frame the relation between the individual and the body politic -- travel the globe in modular forms, or in predictable trajectories from the West to East, North to South. Collectively the essays argue that if the town hall has historically been connected with the articulation of bourgeois civil society, then the town hall as a global spatial type -- architectural space, urban monument, and space of governance -- holds a mirror to the promise and limits of civil society.

More books from Taylor and Francis

Cover of the book The Politics of Heritage Tourism in China by
Cover of the book The Integration and Protection of Immigrants by
Cover of the book The Ethics of Exile by
Cover of the book Mayan Visions by
Cover of the book A Theory of Stylistic Rules in English (RLE Linguistics A: General Linguistics) by
Cover of the book Psychologists on Psychology (Classic Edition) by
Cover of the book Ideology and Interests in the German State (RLE: German Politics) by
Cover of the book Written Maternal Authority and Eighteenth-Century Education in Britain by
Cover of the book Designbuild Education by
Cover of the book Into the Newsroom by
Cover of the book The Revenue Imperative by
Cover of the book Chongqing’s Red Culture Campaign by
Cover of the book Restructuring the Chinese City by
Cover of the book Frontiers in Nature-based Tourism by
Cover of the book The Development Trap by
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy