FEBRUARY 2010 » book review

The Never-Ending Story

Unbuilding Cities: Obduracy in Urban Sociotechnical Change
by Anique Hommels
The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA; 2005
290 pp; 27 b&w illustrations; hardcover $35; softcover $19
ISBN 0-262-08340-X

The Human City: King's Cross Central
by Roger Madelin and Demetri Porphyrios
Yale School of Architecture, New Haven, CT; 2008
192 pp; 250 color and b&w illustrations; softcover $30
ISBN 978-0-393-73247-4

Reviewed by Nicole V. Gagné

Two recent books examine the many hurdles – technical, conceptual and sociological – that seem always to impede attempts at positive urban planning, redesign and renewal. Don't judge these books by their covers, however, because each one is somewhat belied by its design and packaging. Yet they both offer thoughtful and constructive reflections on this ever more pressing concern.

You pretty much know what you're in for with Unbuilding Cities as soon as you glance at its subtitle, "Obduracy in Urban Sociotechnical Change." Author Anique Hommels is assistant professor in the Department of Technology and Society Studies of the Faculty of Arts and Culture at the University of Maastricht, Netherlands, and her book makes few concessions for the casual reader. But she has all her information at hand, and the issue that she dissects is an urgent one. Her book serves as a response to the tar pits of debate and delay in the Netherlands, which have inhibited city-planning initiatives and attempts to redesign buildings. Hommels examines what she calls "the clash between new ideas about urban development and the opinions and policies embedded in the urban structures that are already in place." A better understanding of the inevitable problems is essential for the successful renewal of urban design – where, as she points out, "the stakes often are so high that years of planning, debate, and controversy may result in no changes at all in some cases."

As her academic credentials would suggest, Hommels works within her perspective of science and technology studies, and uses its tools for analyzing technological artifacts. Cities are seen as large sociotechnical artifacts with structures that become anchored and obdurate, not only in their own histories but in the histories of their surroundings too. Her book details three instances of the "unbuilding" – the redesign or reconfiguration – of urban sites and structures, each of which pinpoints a different type of obduracy.

Hoog Catharijne, a large-scale redesign of Utrecht's city center in the 1960s, was regarded as ugly and outdated by the 1980s; yet plans to demolish and rebuild a section of it weren't approved until 1997 and have yet to be implemented. The problem is what Hommels calls "Dominant Frames": how fixed ways of thinking and interacting can constrain planners, architects, engineers, citizens, etc. – all of whom need to think outside their boxes if they're to create positive changes.

The city of Maastricht decided in 1998 to postpone until after 2012 all the planning activities for the reconstruction of a highway system that runs through a heavily populated area. This type of obduracy is "Embeddedness," when technology becomes embedded within networks of sociotechnical systems. Amsterdam's Bijlmermeer suburban district was built according to functionalist design in the 1960s and '70s, with high-rise housing projects for middle-class families. Instead it became a home for crime and unemployment. By the 1990s those apartment buildings were being torn down, despite some local resistance – Hommels' "Persistent Traditions," when past choices and decisions continue to exert influence upon the development of technology.

The only regrettable thing about Unbuilding Cities is the academic drabness of the book itself, with its handful of muddy black-and-white photos and drawings. Ironically, that failing has its counterpart in the overdesigned The Human City: King's Cross Central, a wearying exercise in postmodern glitz. The colorful photos and art, tinted pictures, colored type, and other bells and whistles eventually prove more distracting than illuminating, which is unfortunate because the book's authors represent a special convergence of talent.

Roger Madelin of Argent Group PLC is a developer of King's Cross Central, the largest development site in central London, and as part of a series of developer/architect collaborations at the Yale School of Architecture, Madelin joined with the site's co-master planner, Demetri Porphyrios, a leading architect with Porphyrios Associates in London. Assisted by critic George Knight of the Yale faculty, they conducted an advanced studio in the spring semester of 2007 with eight students from the Yale School of Architecture. The design of King's Cross was studied with an eye toward creating new buildings of mixed use for its master plan. The integration of new and old, designing structures within the area's pre-existing infrastructure and architecture, was the special challenge – all within the context of providing human spaces for the people who live and work there.

The book's first section, entitled "The Value of Design: Character, Planning, and Development," features separate interviews with Madelin and Porphyrios, in which they discuss their visions for King's Cross and their efforts with it. The second section, "King's Cross Central and London," examines the history and current condition of the site, and its role within the city of London. Included in the third section, "King's Cross Central Studio," is the studio brief written by Porphyrios, the Argent Group's "Design Framework and Guidelines" for the development, and student planning analyses.

Although the scope of The Human City is more limited than that of Unbuilding Cities, it is every bit as urgent and deeply considered. Both books offer detailed histories of urban-renewal efforts as well as practical solutions to dealing with the seemingly never-ending problems of contemporary urban planning and renewal. Anyone involved in these fields will appreciate the work that these authors have done. TB

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