Architecture in global socialism : Eastern Europe, West Africa, and the Middle East in the Cold War

Author/Creator:

Stanek, Łukasz, author

Publication/Creation:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2020]

Format:

Book

More Details

Additional/Related Title Information

Full Title:

Architecture in global socialism : Eastern Europe, West Africa, and the Middle East in the Cold War / Łukasz Stanke

Subjects/Genre

Subjects:

Architecture, Modern--20th century
Architecture--Europe, Eastern
Architecture--Africa, West
Architecture--Middle East
Socialist realism and architecture

Description/Summary

Bibliography:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Summary:

In the course of the Cold War, architects, planners, and contractors from socialist Eastern Europe engaged in a vibrant collaboration with those in West Africa and the Middle East in order to bring modernization to the developing world. Architecture in Global Socialism shows how their collaboration reshaped five cities in the global South: Accra, Lagos, Baghdad, Abu Dhabi, and Kuwait City. Lukasz Stanek describes how local authorities and professionals in these cities drew on Soviet prefabrication systems, Hungarian and Polish planning methods, Yugoslav and Bulgarian construction materials, Romanian and East German standard designs, and manual laborers from across Eastern Europe. He explores how the socialist development path was adapted to tropical conditions in Ghana in the 1960s, and how East European architectural traditions were given new life in 1970s Nigeria. He looks at how the differences between socialist foreign trade and the emerging global construction market were exploited in the Middle East in the closing decades of the Cold War. Stanek demonstrates how these and other practices of global cooperation by socialist countries-what he calls socialist worldmaking-left their enduring mark on urban landscapes in the postcolonial world. Featuring an extensive collection of previously unpublished images, Architecture in Global Socialism draws on original archival research in sixteen countries and a wealth of in-depth interviews. This incisive book presents a new understanding of global urbanization and its architecture through the lens of socialist internationalism, challenging long-held notions about modernization and development in the global South.

Language:

English

Physical Type/Description:

357 pages : illustrations (some color), maps (some color) ; 29 cm

Additional Identifiers

Catalog ID (MMSID):

9937004852602486

ISBN:

0691168709
9780691168708

OCLC Number:

1099685864

Barcode:

010003086044