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Concrete and Clay by Matthew Gandy

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Concrete and Clay

Reworking Nature in New York City

Reworking Nature in New York City

By Matthew Gandy

By Matthew Gandy

By Matthew Gandy

By Matthew Gandy

Best Seller

Part of Urban and Industrial Environments

Part of Urban and Industrial Environments

Paperback $35.95

Aug 29, 2003 | ISBN 9780262572163

Ebook $26.99

Aug 29, 2003 | ISBN 9780262303613

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    About Concrete and Clay

    An interdisciplinary account of the environmental history and changing landscape of New York City.

    In this innovative account of the urbanization of nature in New York City, Matthew Gandy explores how the raw materials of nature have been reworked to produce a “metropolitan nature” distinct from the forms of nature experienced by early settlers. The book traces five broad developments: the expansion and redefinition of public space, the construction of landscaped highways, the creation of a modern water supply system, the radical environmental politics of the barrio in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the contemporary politics of the environmental justice movement. Drawing on political economy, environmental studies, social theory, cultural theory, and architecture, Gandy shows how New York’s environmental history is bound up not only with the upstate landscapes that stretch beyond the city’s political boundaries but also with more distant places that reflect the nation’s colonial and imperial legacies. Using the shifting meaning of nature under urbanization as a framework, he looks at how modern nature has been produced through interrelated transformations ranging from new water technologies to changing fashions in landscape design. Throughout, he considers the economic and ideological forces that underlie phenomena as diverse as the location of parks and the social stigma of dirty neighborhoods.

    About Concrete and Clay

    An interdisciplinary account of the environmental history and changing landscape of New York City.

    In this innovative account of the urbanization of nature in New York City, Matthew Gandy explores how the raw materials of nature have been reworked to produce a “metropolitan nature” distinct from the forms of nature experienced by early settlers. The book traces five broad developments: the expansion and redefinition of public space, the construction of landscaped highways, the creation of a modern water supply system, the radical environmental politics of the barrio in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the contemporary politics of the environmental justice movement. Drawing on political economy, environmental studies, social theory, cultural theory, and architecture, Gandy shows how New York’s environmental history is bound up not only with the upstate landscapes that stretch beyond the city’s political boundaries but also with more distant places that reflect the nation’s colonial and imperial legacies. Using the shifting meaning of nature under urbanization as a framework, he looks at how modern nature has been produced through interrelated transformations ranging from new water technologies to changing fashions in landscape design. Throughout, he considers the economic and ideological forces that underlie phenomena as diverse as the location of parks and the social stigma of dirty neighborhoods.

    Also by Matthew Gandy

    Natura Urbana
    The Fabric of Space
    See all books by Matthew Gandy

    Also by Matthew Gandy

    Natura Urbana
    The Fabric of Space
    See all books by Matthew Gandy

    Product Details

    Category: Arts & Entertainment | Science

    Paperback | $35.95
    Published by The MIT Press
    Aug 29, 2003 | 358 Pages | 7 x 9 | ISBN 9780262572163

    Category: Arts & Entertainment | Science

    Ebook | $26.99
    Published by The MIT Press
    Aug 29, 2003 | 358 Pages | 7 x 9 | ISBN 9780262303613

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    Praise

    …a fascinating overview of New York City’s technological and social infrastructures.—Journal of Architectural Education—

    Gandy has pieced together a fascinating environmental history of New York.

    —Publishers Weekly—

    Concrete and Clay is a towering achievement and a wonderful addition to the literature on the urban environment.

    —Ari Kelman, American Studies—

    Gandy deftly and provocatively connects issue of health, politics, economics, and urbanology in a compulsively readable and illuminating cultural analysis.

    —Publishers Weekly—

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