The Dead City: Urban Ruins and the Spectacle of Decay (International Library of Visual Culture)

Cities Are Imagined Not Just As Utopias, But Also As Ruins. In Literature, Film, Art And Popular Culture, Urban Landscapes Have Been Submerged By Floods, Razed By Alien Invaders, Abandoned By Fearful Inhabitants And Consumed In Fire. The Dead City Unearths Meanings From Such Depictions Of Ruination And Decay, Looking At Representations Of Both Thriving Cities And Ones Which Are Struggling, Abandoned Or Simply In Transition. It Reveals That Ruination Presents A Complex Opportunity To Envision New Futures For A City, Whether That Is By Rewriting Its Past Or Throwing Off Old Assumptions And Proposing Radical Change. Seen In A Certain Light, For Example, Urban Ruin And Decay Are A Challenge To Capitalist Narratives Of Unbounded Progress. They Can Equally Imply That Power Structures Thought To Be Deeply Ingrained Are Temporary, Contingent And Even Fragile. Examining Ruins In Chernobyl, Detroit, London, Manchester And Varosha, This Book Demonstrates That How We Discuss And Depict Urban Decline Is Intimately Connected To The Histories, Economic Forces, Power Structures And Communities Of A Given City, As Well As To Conflicting Visions For Its Future.-- ǂc Provided By Publisher. Introduction: Urban Ruins, Imagination And Exploration -- I. Histories -- Post-apocalyptic Londons: Imagining The Death Of A City -- Remnants Of Disaster: Ruins In Post-industrial Manchester -- Ii. Explorations -- Fantasy And Experience: Ruin Gazing In Varosha -- Disaster And Memory: The Ruins Of Chernobyl And Pripyat -- Iii. Futures -- Urban Futures, Art And The Imagination Of Detroit -- Suspended Futures: Urban Ruins In Reverse. Paul Dobraszczyk. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 255-275), Filmography (pages 276-277) And Index. Cover Half-title Endorsement Title page Copyright information Table of contents Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction: urban ruins, imagination and exploration Imagining the dead city Ruin aesthetics Ruin exploration The sites I Histories 1 Post-apocalyptic Londons: imagining the death of a city The empty city Emptiness as allegory Emptiness with venom Emptiness as illusion The destroyed city Destruction and invasion Destruction and experience Destruction and digitization The submerged city Submergence by sewage: After London Submergence and regression Death by water 2 Remnants of disaster: ruins in post-industrial Manchester Ruins below Remaindered flows: the Irk culvert Remaindered space: the Manchester and Salford Junction Canal The ruins of industry Demolition: Royd Mill Dereliction and decay: Hartford Mill Salvage: Royal Mills and Brunswick Mill The ruins of work The persistence of ruins The politics of ruins Conclusion II Explorations 3 Fantasy and experience: ruin gazing in Varosha Urbicide The last witness The world without us The future of ruins 4 Disaster and memory: the ruins of Chernobyl and Pripyat Into the zone Sarcophagus/shelter: monument as ruin Pripyat: ruins as monuments Ruins as voids III Futures 5 Urban futures, art and the imagination of Detroit The imagination of Detroit Dystopian imaginaries Utopian imaginaries Cutting/pasting Covering Melding Mouldering 6 Suspended futures: urban ruins in reverse Abandoned futures Suspended futures Incomplete futures The future of ruins Notes Bibliography Printed sources Online sources Unpublished sources Filmography Index "Cities are imagined not just as utopias, but also as ruins. In literature, film, art and popular culture, urban landscapes have been submerged by floods, razed by alien invaders, abandoned by fearful inhabitants and consumed in fire. The Dead City unearths meanings from such depictions of ruination and decay, looking at representations of both thriving cities and ones which are struggling, abandoned or simply in transition. It reveals that ruination presents a complex opportunity to envision new futures for a city, whether that is by rewriting its past or throwing off old assumptions and proposing radical change. Seen in a certain light, for example, urban ruin and decay are a challenge to capitalist narratives of unbounded progress. They can equally imply that power structures thought to be deeply ingrained are temporary, contingent and even fragile. Examining ruins in Chernobyl, Detroit, London, Manchester and Varosha, this book demonstrates that how we discuss and depict urban decline is intimately connected to the histories, economic forces, power structures and communities of a given city, as well as to conflicting visions for its future."--Résumé de l'éditeur