A radical history of squatting and the struggle for the right to remake the city
Alexander Vasudevan is Associate Professor of Cultural and Historical Geography at the University of Nottingham. He is the author of Metropolitan Preoccupations: The Spatial Politics of Squatting in Berlin. His work has been published in several prestigious journals, include Antipode, Cultural Geographies, Environment and Planning A and D, Progress in Human Geography and Social and Cultural Geography. He has also written for the Guardian, openDemoracy and New Left Project.
An encyclopaediac and vital history of a topic which is often
overlooked but is invariably at the heart of radical city
politics.
*Anna Minton, author of Ground Control*
The Autonomous City is a detailed and sympathetic history of
squatting movements in Europe and the United States. In addition,
it is a discussion of its meaning in the ever fluctuating meanings
of urban living. Part academic treatise and part action-packed
history, Vasudevan's text provides the reader with a nuanced look
at the nature and meaning of the housing crisis in the capitalist
West and the solutions housing occupations can provide. In doing
so, he brings in the political, cultural and historical meanings
behind the squatters and the communities they occupy and create.
This is an essential book for anyone interested in the meaning of
housing in modern society. It is also a sort of a guidebook for
those tired of waiting for the economic and political systems of
their respective nations to resolve the crisis that exists in
almost every urban zone and who are willing to take matters into
their own collective hands.
*Counterpunch*
Sweeping research on the surprisingly radical history of occupying
abandoned buildings and living in them.
*New Republic*
Delving into the history of squatting and radical housing activism,
Vasudevan's book traces the ways housing insecurity and
affordability crises intertwine with movements to claim and reclaim
homes and apartments.
*Curbed*
A significant contribution to the written history of squatting
movements and struggles to transform the city. It is wide-ranging
and well-researched, which should appeal to a wide readership
including architects, urban planners, scholars of social movements
and anyone with a casual interest in squatting and urban
politics.
*RIBA Journal*
Sheds new light on the transformative role of urban squatting in
cities across Europe and North America since the Second World War.
Departing from the persistent mythologies and best-known examples
of urban squatting Vasudevan reveals understudied examples of
activists taking over ordinary as well as iconic, vacant
buildings.
*Times Literary Supplement*
Carefully researched and discursive study.
*New Statesman*
Poses difficult and timely questions... a scrupulously detailed,
thought-provoking study... a resource for all urban dwellers.
*LA Review of Books*
This admirable, jargon-free book provides rich, interesting stories
about urban squatter movements and makes a significant contribution
to political and urban studies and to the field of public
policy.
*CHOICE*
[The Autonomous City] deserves its place on the bookshelf alongside
all others which embrace the vision of a more autonomous urban
future.
*Anarchist Studies*
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
