Overview

Dreams + Disillusions explores the plethora of ideas and ideologies that have shaped and reshaped cities in profound ways. However, unlike a conventional title on the history of urbanism and architecture, its research fluctuates between the world of concrete reality and the multiple universes that exist in lucid prose, poetic visions, and the outrageous imaginations of history’s greatest and most (in)famous minds. In their thoughts are the foundations for political trends and new civilisations, alternative mappings and unlikely phenomena. The six chapters reveal dreams that were fundamental to the origin of great cities, underpinning the stories of the many lives within; and how, through circumstance or manipulation, fortunate coincidence or planned perfection, desires are sometimes left defeated and disillusioned. Myth and belief. Tradition and logic. Revolution and marginalisation. Ignorance and hubris. Sins and excess. Seasons and climate. Continuously interacting, shifting to enlighten and to enrage, these themes combine critical thinking with deep-rooted influences and new agencies that are a true sign of the times. The 18 illustrated speculations provide an abundance of curious imaginings, diverse provocations and satirical criticism. While there are distinctions between dreams and disillusions, could virtues be made of sins, or sensitivity be borne from hubris? Could progress advocate tradition, or should we re-attempt revolutions formerly experienced as disillusionments? Whether by bold gestures or by subtle attrition, cities are continually re-written crucibles for the human condition. In this book, we develop a better understanding of the discourse of cities tailored to the determining factors of climate, resources, and humanity’s idiosyncrasies to address a world in crisis.

Full Product Details

9780367075378

Table of Contents

Reviews

“In an era of shape-shifting Elizabethans, many multiverses, and contested realities, some of them hallucinated by AI, British architect and theorist CJ Lim and his collaborator, Luke Angers, gives us Dreams + Disillusions, a delectable collection of visions of what cities all around the globe might have been, could become, or, if you look at them through this designer’s skewed perspectives, already are. Through a dozen 'case studies' and more analytic chapters that romp through everything from the aftermath of London’s great fire to North Korea’s Hermit Kingdom, Lim presents a universe of brightly colored and gravity-defining architectures. While these do not provide recipes for urban improvements, they do offer another way of approaching how to make our cities more sustainable, just, and beautiful…Lim’s luscious visions may be myths, but they are a welcome tapestry of imagining other worlds, an act of weaving that we need more of now, more than ever.” Aaron Betsky, book review, The Architecture Newspaper, 2024

Author Information

CJ Lim is the Professor of Architecture and Urbanism at The Bartlett UCL and founder of Studio 8 Architects. His other authored books published by Routledge include Short Stories (2011), Food City (2014), Inhabitable Infrastructures (2017), Smartcities, Resilient Landscapes + Eco-warriors (2010 + 2019) and Once Upon a China (2021). Luke Angers is a practising Canadian architectural designer based in London. He has a long-standing interest in the spatial narratives of urbanism and landscape.

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