Anique Hommels provides a fascinating analysis of three efforts to alter the face and shape of Dutch cities that draws on insights from STS and urban studies. She opens up some of the many black boxes which characterize cities and demonstrates how cities are not only built but also re- and unbuilt. It is to be hoped that others will take up the many leads that Hommels offers for thinking about and analyzing the exciting spaces and places in which many of us live and work.
Sally Wyatt, University of Amsterdam
Tracing the sheer obduracy of the physical fabric of cities, Unbuilding Cities opens up urban planning, and urban creative destruction, to the powerful gaze of STS research for the first time. The result is an original and insightful account of the ways in which cities can be creatively 'unbuilt' which will be key reading for architects, planners, and STS researchers.
Stephen Graham, Professor of Human Geography, University of Durham
Hommels provides a new framework for exploring the dynamic tensions between the malleability and fixity of the contemporary city. In particular, she provides a rich empirical and conceptual understanding of the strategies for unbuilding cities that gives symmetrical treatment to the technological and social issues involved in these dynamics.
Simon Marvin, Director, Centre for Sustainable Urban and Regional Futures, University of Salford, Manchester
This book provides some interesting models of thinking for the professionals of the built environment.... A useful contribution to those involved in negotiations about urban change, including presentational aspects.
Judith Ryser
Urban Design