Book review: city, street and citizen: the measure of the ordinary

Though authorised surveys, media representations and the current political dogma around multiculturalism have tended to produce a portrayal that purports cultural containment and social division, the speed of change in the contemporary city has never been more accelerated, nor has its populations been more variegated. Based on two years of ethnographic research in London, Suzanne Hall offers a nuanced account of urban life, alongside the underlying economic and political structure of society. Ben Campkin admires the book’s ethnographic-architectural approach

Negotiating the City Through Google Street View

The collection is themed around relationships between photography and architecture. We argue that Google Street View is worth the attention of historians of photography, in fact crucial to an understanding of contemporary photography. We proceed by outlining a framework for how to approach Street View critically in three parts: synchronicity, systematization, interface. The discussion is built around both conversations with the designers at Google and specific visual extracts from Street View itself

Picturing Place: The Agency of Images in Urban Change

Engaged Urbanism showcases the exciting ways in which urbanists are responding to this question and working towards fairer cities. Its authors offer succinct, candid and carefully illustrated commentaries on the trials and successes of risk-taking research, revealing how they collaborate across fields of expertise, inventing or adapting methods to suit bespoke situations. Featuring novel uses and combinations of practice-from activism, architectural design and undercover journalism, to film, sculpture, performance and photography- in a diversity of cities such as Beirut, Johannesburg, Kisumu, London and Rio de Janeiro, Engaged Urbanism demonstrates how some of the greatest challenges for present and future populations are being rigorously and creatively addressed