{"product_id":"imaginary-cities-a-tour-of-dream-cities-nightmare-cities-and-everywhere-in-between-paperback","title":"Imaginary Cities: A Tour of Dream Cities, Nightmare Cities, and Everywhere in Between - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eDarran Anderson\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor as long as humans have gathered in cities, those cities have had their shining--or shadowy--counterparts. Imaginary cities, potential cities, future cities, perfect cities. It is as if the city itself, its inescapable gritty reality and elbow-to-elbow nature, demands we call into being some alternative, yearned-for better place. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e This book is about those cities. It's neither a history of grand plans nor a literary exploration of the utopian impulse, but rather something different, hybrid, idiosyncratic. It's a magpie's book, full of characters and incidents and ideas drawn from cities real and imagined around the globe and throughout history. Thomas More's allegorical island shares space with Soviet mega-planning; Marco Polo links up with James Joyce's meticulously imagined Dublin; the medieval land of Cockaigne meets the hopeful future of Star Trek. With Darran Anderson as our guide, we find common themes and recurring dreams, tied to the seemingly ineluctable problems of our actual cities, of poverty and exclusion and waste and destruction. And that's where \u003ci\u003eImaginary Cities\u003c\/i\u003e becomes more than a mere--if ecstatically entertaining--intellectual exercise: for, as Anderson says, \"If a city can be imagined into being, it can be re-imagined.\" Every architect, philosopher, artist, writer, planner, or citizen who dreams up an imaginary city offers lessons for our real ones; harnessing those flights of hopeful fancy can help us improve the streets where we live. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Though it shares DNA with books as disparate as Calvino's \u003ci\u003eInvisible Cities \u003c\/i\u003eand Jane Jacobs's \u003ci\u003eDeath and Life of Great American Cities\u003c\/i\u003e, there's no other book quite like \u003ci\u003eImaginary Cities\u003c\/i\u003e. After reading it, you'll walk the streets of your city--real or imagined--with fresh eyes. \u003cbr\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eDarran Anderson\u003c\/b\u003e is an Irish writer residing in Scotland. He has written for a host of publications on the intersections of urbanism, culture, technology and politics. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 576\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.3 x 8.4 x 5.4 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e April 06, 2017\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51754045276448,"sku":"9780226470306","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/eb19059ae3299b055c22b38f08686c5b.webp?v=1780032220","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/imaginary-cities-a-tour-of-dream-cities-nightmare-cities-and-everywhere-in-between-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}