Rethinking the American City

Utilizing an innovative framework as an international, interdisciplinary dialogue, the volume provides an inventory of contemporary thought about the American city across a wide range of topics, including the design of transportation systems, workplaces, and housing to public art, urban ruins, and futurist visions.

Whether struggling in the wake of postindustrial decay or reinventing themselves with new technologies and populations, cities have once again moved to the center of intellectual and political concern. Rethinking the American City brings together leading scholars from a range of disciplines to examine an array of topics that illuminate the past, present, and future of cities.

Rethinking the American City offers a lively and fascinating survey of contemporary thinking about cities in a transnational context. Utilizing an innovative format, each chapter opens with an iconic image and includes a brief and provocative essay on a single topic followed by an extended dialogue among all the essayists. Topics range from energy use, design, and digital media to transportation systems and housing to public art, urban ruins, and futurist visions. By engaging with key contemporary concerns—public and private space, sustainability, ethnic and racial divisions, and technology—this volume illuminates how global society has imagined American urban life.

Contributors: Klaus Benesch, Dolores Hayden, David M. Lubin, Malcolm McCullough, Jeffrey L. Meikle, David E. Nye, Miles Orvell, Andrew Ross, Mabel O. Wilson, Albena Yaneva.

Foreword
—Dolores Hayden
Introduction
—Miles Orvell and Klaus Benesch
Chapter 1. Energy
—David E. Nye
Chapter 2. Sustainability
—Andrew Ross
Chapter 3. The Multicultural City
—Mabel O. Wilson
Chapter 4. Ruins
—Miles Orvell
Chapter 5. Aesthetic Space
—David M. Lubin
Chapter 6. Designing the City
—Albena Yaneva
Chapter 7. Mobility
—Klaus Benesch
Chapter 8. The Digital City
—Malcolm McCullough
Chapter 9. Future City
—Jeffrey L. Meikle
Conclusion

Notes
List of Contributors
Index
Acknowledgments