Author Description

In Cities Around The World, Individuals And Groups Are Reclaiming And Creating Urban Sites, Temporary Spaces And Informal Gathering Places. These ‘insurgent Public Spaces’ Challenge Conventional Views Of How Urban Areas Are Defined And Used, And How They Can Transform The City Environment. No Longer Confined To Traditional Public Areas Like Neighbourhood Parks And Public Plazas, These Guerrilla Spaces Express The Alternative Social And Spatial Relationships In Our Changing Cities. With Nearly Twenty Illustrated Case Studies, This Volume Shows How Instances Of Insurgent Public Space Occur Across The World. Examples Range From Community Gardening In Seattle And Los Angeles, Street Dancing In Beijing, To The Transformation Of Parking Spaces Into Temporary Parks In San Francisco. Drawing On The Experiences And Knowledge Of Individuals Extensively Engaged In The Actual Implementation Of These Spaces, Insurgent Public Space Is A Unique Cross-disciplinary Approach To The Study Of Public Space Use, And How It Is Utilized In The Contemporary, Urban World. Appealing To Professionals And Students In Both Urban Studies And More Social Courses, Hou Has Brought Together Valuable Commentaries On An Area Of Urbanism Which Has, Up Until Now, Been Largely Ignored.-- (not) Your Everyday Public Space / Jeffrey Hou -- Appropriating. Dancing On The Streets Of Beijing: Improved Uses Within The Urban System / Caroline Chen; Latino Urbanism In Los Angeles: A Model For Urban Improvisation And Reinvention / James Rojas; Taking Place: Rebar's Absurd Tactics In Generous Urbanism / Blaine Merker -- Reclaiming. Experimentcity: Cultivating Sustainable Development In Berlin's Freiräume / Michael A. Lafond; Re-city, Tokyo: Putting Publicness Into The Urban Building Stocks / Shin Aiba And Osamu Nishida; Claiming Residual Spaces In The Heterogeneous City / Erick Villagomez -- Pluralizing. Claiming Latino Space: Cultural Insurgency In The Public Realm / Michael Rios; Night Market In Seattle: Community Eventscape And The Reconstruction Of Public Space / Jeffrey Hou; Making Places Of Fusion And Resistance: The Experiences Of Immigrant Women In Taiwanese Townships / Hung-ying Chen And Jia-he Lin; How Outsiders Find Home In The City: Chungshan In Taipei / Pina Wu -- Transgressing. Machizukuri House And Its Expanding Network: Making A New Public Realm In Private Homes / Yasuyoshi Hayashi; Niwa-roju: Private Gardens Serving The Public Realm / Isami Kinoshita; Farmhouses As Urban/rural Public Space / Sawako Ono, Ryoko Sato, And Mima Nishiyama -- Uncovering. Urban Archives: Public Memories Of Everyday Places / Irina Gendelman, Tom Dobrowolsky, And Giorgia Aiello; Funny... It Doesn't Look Like Insurgent Space: The San Francisco Bureau Of Urban Secrets And The Practice Of History As A Public Art / Jeannene Przyblyski; Mapping The Space Of Desire: Brothel As City Landmark, Wenminglo In Taipei / Yung-teen Annie Chiu; Spatial Limbo: Reinscribing Landscapes In Temporal Suspension / Min Jay Kang -- Contesting. Public Space Activism, Toronto And Vancouver: Using The Banner Of Public Space To Build Capacity And Activate Change / Andrew Pask; Urban Agriculture In The Making Of Insurgent Spaces In Los Angeles And Seattle / Teresa M. Mares And Devon G. Peña; When Overwhelming Needs Meet Underwhelming Prospects: Sustaining Community Open Space Activism In East St. Louis / Laura Lawson And Janni Sorensen. Edited By Jeffrey Hou. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.