Book Review | Staging Urban Landscapes by B. Cannon Ivers

Staging Urban Landscapes: The Activation and Curation of Flexible Public Spaces edited by B. Cannon Ivers explores the history of designing flexible spaces for activation and adaptability. The foreword by Charles Waldheim who reviews the history of activation and concentrating on the past 25 years of urban programming that has shaped cities and the public realm.

Staging Urban Landscapes is a collection of essays and case studies that provide written and visual representation (photos, plans, axonometric) of various urban spaces from around the world including Harvard Plaza, Battersea Power Station, Benthemplein Water Square, Byrant Park, The Goods Line, Sechselautenplatz, Trafalgar Square, Navy Yard Central Green and many others.

The essays by Cannon B. Ivers, Chris Reed, Nicola Dempsey, Kirsten Bauer, Adriaan Gueze & Annemarie Kuijt, James Corner and others explore the history, funding of space, social ecologies, partnerships, curation and many other issues involved in designing urban spaces for adaptability and programming.

The case studies are well presented with information and graphics along with high-quality photos that allow the reader to understand the scale, elements (benches, tables, planters), and programs (for varying events) of the urban spaces.

Overall, this book is a great reference for landscape architects and urban designers for understanding urban spaces and program. The essays offer insights to projects and the case studies provide precedents with visual information in an easy to read reference guide with an helpful visual index (of all projects) at the end.

Staging Urban Landscapes: The Activation and Curation of Flexible Public Spaces is available from Amazon at $USD80.58
and also Birkhuaser for 69,95 € / $80.99 / £63.50

 

Staging Urban Landscapes: The Activation and Curation of Flexible Public Spaces
Publisher: Birkhauser (October 8, 2018)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 3035611890
ISBN-13: 978-3035611892

About Damian Holmes 3245 Articles
Damian Holmes is the Founder and Editor of World Landscape Architecture (WLA). He is a registered landscape architect (AILA) working in international design practice in Australia. Damian founded WLA in 2007 to provide a website for landscape architects written by landscape architects. Connect on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/damianholmes/