Political Theory And Architecture Bernardo Zacka by Bernardo Zacka 9781350096592, 9781350103771, 1350096598, 1350103772 instant download after payment.

Architecture is not merely a backdrop for political life, but an important political agent in itself. Architecture represents and symbolizes our values and enacts visions of social order; it encourages and prevents certain forms of behaviour and it shapes our everyday experiences. It is, at once, a mirror we hold up to ourselves, a site of political struggle, an instrument of power, and a vector for social change. It also lends itself to being re-appropriated in myriad ways by those who use it, its meanings and hierarchies endlessly subverted and redirected.
This book situates the built environment at the heart of debates over democracy and citizenship. Does democracy call for a distinctive spatial environment, and if so, what are its characteristics and symbolism? How can architecture contribute positively to the democracy of everyday life – the ordinary patterns of interaction between citizens that engender and sustain a democratic ethos? How can architecture participate in progressive political change, deepening the democratic character of our societies, and what dilemmas does it face when it attempts to do so?
The contributors to the volume approach these interdisciplinary questions, reflecting the range of methods and sensibilities that animate contemporary political theory. What emerges is a multifarious engagement with the many facets of the built environment and a sustained inquiry into their significance for democratic theory.