Cities and Fascination. Beyond the Surplus of Meaning

Bringing together leading urban scholars, this book discusses the linkages between the economic, social and psychological factors of the urban environment. It focuses on the growth of private urbanity that has led to a 'spectactularization' of the city, the most extreme component of attention being the fascination which is aroused by attractions and state-managed events. The complex characteristics of this fascination are examined under the dimensions of aesthetics, emotions, lived experiences and power structures and governance. The interdisciplinary nature of this collection has wide international appeal and will be of interest to academics of social and cultural geography and cultural and media studies.

Contents: Preface; Cities and fascination: beyond the surplus of meaning, Heiko Schmid, Wolf-Dietrich Sahr and John Urry; Part I Revealing Fascination: Theoretical Horizons: The urban question after modernity, Michael Dear; The city is back (in our minds) Jacques Lévy; Emotions in an urban environment: embellishing the cities from the perspective of the humanities. Jürgen Hasse; Aesthetics and design: perceptions in the postmodern periphery, Ludger Basten. Part II Focusing Fascination: Crossing Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives: 'The most dangerous knack': fetish and fascination in the built environment, Neil Smith; The urban staging of politics: life worlds, aesthetics, and planning – and an example from Brazil, Wolf-Dietrich Sahr. Part III Implementing Fascination: Case Studies: From dreamland to wasteland: the discursive structuring of cities, Ulrike Gerhard and Ingo H. Warnke; Re-designing the metropolis: purpose and perception of the Ruhr district as European Capital of Culture 2010, Achim Prossek; Strategic staging of urbanity: urban images in films and film images in Hamburg's city marketing, Sybille Bauriedl and Anke Strüver; 'Neoliberalism with Chinese characteristics': consumer pedagogy in Macao, Tim Simpson. Part IV Consequences of Fascination: New Horizons: Excess, fascination and climates, John Urry; Index.

About the Editor: Professor Heiko Schmid, University of Heidelberg, Germany, Professor Wolf-Dietrich Sahr, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Brasil and Professor John Urry, Department of Sociology, Lancaster University, UK

Reviews: 'This book opens up an important dialogue between poststructuralist, Marxist, and phenomenological perspectives on cities as sites of spectacle. The chapters present groundbreaking reflections on the contradictions and aspirations of an "excessive capitalism".'
Ilse Helbrecht, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany

'Cities are sites of everyday social and economic life but they also reflect the play of imagination, desire, and semiological excess. In the 21st century, the theatrical is coming to overshadow the merely functional in our experience of the urban. Cities and Fascination offers a number of original and provocative investigations of this phenomenon.'
Allen J. Scott, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

'A cutting-edge journey across the frontiers of urban theory, Cities and Fascination excavates the ways in which contemporary cities sear their way into our minds, captivate our hearts and dominate our imaginations. Crossing disciplinary boundaries and continents with equal ease, this brilliant collection explores the results of such fascination for politics, architecture, philosophy and the ways in which we inhabit our rapidly urbanizing world.'
Stephen Graham, Newcastle University, UK.