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Selling the Future City
Norman Foster and the Global Business of Urban Utopia

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About this book:

Selling the Future City From the soaring glass of the HSBC tower to the zero-carbon ambition of Masdar City, Norman Foster didn’t just design buildings—he sold the world a seductive vision of tomorrow. *Selling the Future City* pulls back the curtain on the most influential architectural brand of our time, revealing how Foster + Partners packaged high-tech sustainability into a global commodity. This is the untold story of how a "green aesthetic" became a geopolitical strategy, helping nations and corporations brand themselves as forward-thinking while reshaping skylines from London to Abu Dhabi to New York.

But beneath the shimmering facades and the rhetoric of ecological harmony lies a sharper reality. With rigorous analysis and global case studies, this book asks the uncomfortable questions the renderings ignore: Do these "eco-cities" actually deliver on their promises, or do they widen inequality? Who benefits when the airport becomes the town square and the skyscraper becomes a sustainability icon? From the "green premium" that inflates real estate values to the smart-city sensors that monitor public life, the authors trace the fine line between urban innovation and a new, polished form of control.

Essential reading for architects, planners, policymakers, and anyone who lives in a city being sold a better future, *Selling the Future City* is a definitive reckoning with the business of utopia. It moves beyond the glossy monographs to assess the true return on investment for the communities left to inhabit these visions. As the climate crisis accelerates and the "smart city" paradigm tightens its grip, this book offers the critical framework we need to distinguish genuine urban progress from a very expensive marketing campaign.

Table of Contents:
  • Introduction
  • Chapter 1 The Brand of Tomorrow: Norman Foster and the Rise of Global Architecture
  • Chapter 2 High-Tech Dreams: Early Visions of Sustainable Urbanism
  • Chapter 3 From Concept to Concrete: The Firm's Formative Years
  • Chapter 4 The Eco-City Blueprint: Defining Foster's Sustainable Aesthetic
  • Chapter 5 Marketing Utopia: Crafting the Narrative of the Future City
  • Chapter 6 The Global Client: Navigating International Development
  • Chapter 7 Abu Dhabi and Masdar: A Test Case for Sustainable Urbanism
  • Chapter 8 Vertical Gardens and Sky-High Ambitions: The Skyscraper as Sustainable Icon
  • Chapter 9 The Airport as Gateway: Infrastructure and the Urban Experience
  • Chapter 10 Culture and Commerce: Museums, Galleries, and the Civic Realm
  • Chapter 11 Bridging Divides: Foster's Influence on Urban Regeneration
  • Chapter 12 The Green Premium: Economic Incentives for Sustainable Design
  • Chapter 13 Critical Perspectives: Debating the Efficacy of High-Tech Sustainability
  • Chapter 14 Local Impact, Global Reach: Assessing the Social Dimensions of Foster's Projects
  • Chapter 15 Beyond the Blueprint: The Long-Term Performance of "Sustainable" Cities
  • Chapter 16 The Smart City Paradigm: Technology and Urban Control
  • Chapter 17 Reshaping Skylines: Foster's Influence on Urban Morphology
  • Chapter 18 The Price of Progress: Economic Disparities in Future Cities
  • Chapter 19 Branding Nations: Architecture as a Tool for National Identity
  • Chapter 20 From Masterplan to Reality: Challenges in Implementing Grand Visions
  • Chapter 21 The Ethics of Influence: Power, Politics, and Global Development
  • Chapter 22 The Post-Carbon City: Evolving Concepts of Urban Sustainability
  • Chapter 23 Legacy and Critique: Evaluating Foster's Enduring Impact
  • Chapter 24 What Cities Got: A Return on Investment in Urban Utopia
  • Chapter 25 The Future of the Future City: New Directions in Urban Design
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Author:

Randy Miller

Published By:

MixCache.com Extended Catalog

Type:

Nonfiction

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