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Cruelty and Utopia

Cities and Landscapes of Latin America
Princeton Architectural Press Edited by CIVA
under the direction of Jean-Francois Lejeune

9-1/2 x 11 in; 264 pp ; 185 color and 138 B/W images
Paperback
Published in January, 2005
ISBN 1568984898
ISBN13 9781568984896

$45.00  

Cruelty and Utopia -- This landmark collection of illustrated essays explores the vastly underappreciated history of America's other cities -- the great metropolises found south of our borders in Central and South America.
Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Mexico City, Caracas, Havana, Santiago, Rio, Tijuana, and Quito are just some of the subjects of this diverse collection. How have desires to create modern societies shaped these cities, leading to both architectural masterworks (by the likes of Luis Barragán, Juan O'Gorman, Lúcio Costa, Roberto Burle Marx, Carlos Raúl Villanueva, and Lina Bo Bardi) and the most shocking favelas? How have they grappled with concepts of national identity, their colonial history, and the continued demands of a globalized economy?
Lavishly illustrated, Cruelty and Utopia features the work of such leading scholars as Carlos Fuentes, Edward Burian, Lauro Cavalcanti, Fernando Oayrzún, Roberto Segre, and Eduardo Subirats, along with artwork ranging from colonial paintings to stills from Chantal Akerman's film From the Other Side. Also included is a revised translation of Spanish King Philip II's influential planning treatise of 1573, the "Laws of the Indies," which did so much to define the form of the Latin American city.

CIVA is the Centre international pour la ville, l'architecture et le paysage in Belgium.

Jean-Francois Lejeune was the curator of the exhibition "Cruelty and Utopia." He is an architect and urban designer, architectural historian, and associate professor at the University of Miami School of Architecture.