Asian Alterity

Asian Alterity is an interdisciplinary theoretical analysis that vigorously contests the homogeneity of the mainstream Eurocentric values. Part I argues for the need for an alternate perspective to be introduced so as to understand the diversity of Asia's cultural differences at their varied development stages and to meet the complex challenges of the explosive urban expansion and disruptive changes in traditional cultures and lifestyles. Part II of the book consists of nine case studies of Asian major urban cities by well-established academic writers and urban theorists. Each author presents diverse aspects of urban dynamism. The case studies will collectively demonstrate a broad framework to understand the essentiality of the interdisciplinary mode of Cultural Studies as an important lens towards meeting the challenges in Asian Architecture and Urbanism. Highlights of the book: Forewords and comments written by an international panel of multidisciplinary academics and urban theorists including Linda Lim, Lim Teck Ghee, John Philips, Saskia Sassen, Iain Borden, Edward Soja and Chua Beng Huat. Innovative graphic design and page layout by an internationally established designer, Jackson Tan of Singapore. Elegant limited edition box set includes five additional posters of images from the book. Contents: Part I: Asian Alterity:Introduction and The Rise of Asia: The Relevance of Cultural Studies The Rise of Asia Modernities: Multiple Modernities and Contemporariness Democracy, Human Rights and Social Justice Selected Cultural Studies: Cultural Identities, Diaspora and Memories Globalization and Inequalities Sustainability and Affordability Popular Culture and the Contemporary Asian Architecture and Urbanism: Creativity of the Contemporary Asian Urbanism — Challenges Ahead Asian Architecture — Challenges Ahead Part II: Case Studies of Asian Cities: Bangkok: A City in Flux (K Ratanapridakul) Ho Chi Minh City [Saigon]: Before the Doorstep of Global Assimilation (Khang T) Hong Kong: City of Maximum Quantities (S Li) Istanbul: Observations (K N Tan) The Melbourne Case Study: The Consultant Arrives [and sees] … (L van Schaik) Seoul: Gangnam Alternative Nature — The Experience of Nature Without Parks (Y-J Park & J Kim) Shanghai Assessed: Six Architectural Nodes of the City (E Seng et al.) Singapore: In Search of Transparency (J K Kaw) Tokyo: An Urban Collage of Chaos Amidst Order (T Muraji) 0Keywords:Asia;Asian Architecture and Urbanism;Critical Urbanism;Cultural Studies;Asian Modernity;Multiple ModernitiesReview: “This book on Asian Alterity is so welcome, as one of the new (yet still all too rare) explorations in architecture and urbanism which seek to operate from an interdisciplinary perspective, and, as such, comprehend the true difficulty of the life that we seek to comprehend and better. As such, it provides invaluable insights into aspects of what William Lim calls the ‘non-West’, that is into modernity globalization, technology, politics, and social organization … it helps me to understand my London-based daily life, one which is composed of similarly complex (and often ‘Asian’) cultures, languages, peoples, hybrids, diasporas, fractional identities, and disparities of wealth. And the book suggests too that, of course, places like London are also part of the global condition of architectural and urban issues such as memories, public space, uncertainty, spatial justice and what William Lim memorably terms the ‘Colonial Hangover’.” Iain Borden Professor of Architecture and Urban Culture Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London “There is nothing quite like Asian Alterity for its comprehensive and insightful perspective on Australasian urbanism, its creative recomposition of stubborn modernist binaries, its sensitive handling of difference and otherness, its effectively politicized interdisciplinarity, and its challenging ethical agenda for the city building professions and city dwellers everywhere.” Edward W...