Non-Fiction Books:

City-making, Space and Spirituality

A Community-Based Urban Praxis with Reflections from South Africa
Click to share your rating 0 ratings (0.0/5.0 average) Thanks for your vote!
$446.00
Available from supplier

The item is brand new and in-stock with one of our preferred suppliers. The item will ship from a Mighty Ape warehouse within the timeframe shown.

Usually ships in 3-4 weeks
Free Delivery with Primate
Join Now

Free 14 day free trial, cancel anytime.

Buy Now, Pay Later with:

4 payments of $111.50 with Afterpay Learn more

6 weekly interest-free payments of $74.33 with Laybuy Learn more

Availability

Delivering to:

Estimated arrival:

  • Around 13-25 June using International Courier

Description

This book is about the soul of the city, embodied in its spaces and people. It traces dynamics in inner city neighbourhoods of South Africa’s post-apartheid capital, Pretoria. Viewing the city through its most vulnerable people and places, it recognizes that urban space is never neutral and shaped by competing value frameworks. The first part of the book invites planners, city-makers, and ordinary urban citizens, to consider a new self-understanding, reclaiming their agency in the city-making process. Through the metaphor of "becoming like children", planning practice is deconstructed and re-imagined. A praxis-based methodology is presented, cultivating four distinct moments of entering, reading, imagining and co-constructing the city. After deconstructing urban spaces and discourses, the second part of the book explores a concrete spirituality and ethic of urban space. It argues for a shift from planning as technocracy, to planning as immersed, participatory artistry: opening up to the "genius" of space, responsive to urban cries, and joining to construct new, soul-full spaces. Local communities and interconnected movements become embodiments of urban alternatives – through resistance and reconstruction; building on local assets; animating local reclamations; and weaving nets of hope that will span the entire city. Providing a concrete methodology for city-making that is rooted in a community-based urban praxis, this book will be of interest to urban planning researchers, professional planners and designers and also grass-root community developers or activists.

Author Biography:

Stéphan de Beer is an urbanist-theologian, passionate about cities that are radically inclusive, both socially and spatially. Previously, he led a community-based organization in the inner city of Tshwane, focusing on vulnerable people and places, and creating responsive social and housing infrastructure. Currently, he is Professor of Practical Theology and director of the Centre for Faith and Community at the University of Pretoria. With doctoral qualifications in theology and urban planning, he seeks to traverse disciplines and boundaries in undoing the apartheid city. He convenes the Urban Studio and the Unit for Street Homelessness, connecting scholarship, neighbourhoods and the streets. He believes that spirituality made concrete can help transform urban places.
Release date NZ
September 29th, 2023
Audience
  • Tertiary Education (US: College)
Illustrations
2 Tables, black and white; 9 Line drawings, black and white; 46 Halftones, black and white; 55 Illustrations, black and white
Pages
304
ISBN-13
9781032372235
Product ID
36519407

Customer reviews

Nobody has reviewed this product yet. You could be the first!

Write a Review

Marketplace listings

There are no Marketplace listings available for this product currently.
Already own it? Create a free listing and pay just 9% commission when it sells!

Sell Yours Here

Help & options

Filed under...