The situationists and the city

Abstract

"The Situationist International (SI), led by the revolutionary Guy Debord, were active throughout the 1950s and 60s. They published the journal Internationale Situationniste that included many incendiary texts on politics and art, and were a galvanizing force in the revolutions of May 1968. The importance of their work has been felt particularly in their revolutionary analysis of cities. The SI were responsible for utopian imaginings of the city, where its alienating effects from its routine use as a site of consumption and work were banished and it was instead to be turned into a place of play. Tom McDonough collects all the SIʹs key work in this area for an essential one-stop collection. Including such essential works as The Theory of the Derive, Formulary for a New Urbanism, and many previously untranslated texts, the book will also be strikingly illustrated by the images that were core to the Situationist project"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents

Introduction -- Critique of functionalism and modernism -- Paris, modern myth -- Consolidation -- The architectural interlude -- The critique of urban planning -- Festival and urban revolution -- Toward a synoptic theory.