Stefan Al

How the World's Tallest Buildings Are Reshaping Our Cities and Our Lives

Supertall

The transformations of the Strip -- from the fake Wild West to neon signs twenty stories high to "starchitecture" -- and how they mirror America itself.

Las Vegas and the Architecture of the American Dream

The Strip

Hong Kong is the twenty-first-century paradigmatic capital of consumerism. Of all places, it has the densest and tallest concentration of malls, reaching tens of stories. Hong Kong’s malls are also the most visited, sandwiched between subways and skyscrapers. These mall complexes have become cities in and of themselves, accommodating tens of thousands of people who live, work, and play within a single structure. Mall City features Hong Kong as a unique rendering of an advanced consumer society. Retail space has come a long way since the nineteenth-century covered passages of Paris, which once awed the bourgeoisie with glass roofs and gaslights. It has morphed from the arcade to the department store, and from the mall into the “mall city”—where “expresscalators” crisscross mesmerizing atriums. Highlighting the effects of this development in Hong Kong, this book raises questions about architecture, city planning, culture, and urban life. “At the nexus of density, humidity, topography, and prosperity, Hong Kong has spawned more malls per square mile than any place on earth. This fantastic book decodes and graphically depicts an environment both apart and ubiquitous, a convulsive form of public space in a liquid territory where intensely contested politics, commerce, and sociability weirdly merge in a city like no other.” —Michael Sorkin, distinguished professor of architecture of the City University of New York “Hong Kong may be packed with the most shopping malls per square kilometer in the world, but Mall City is packed with the most drawings, information, and fascinating mall facts. The book dissects, categorizes, and displays all kinds of intriguing data on the city-state’s shopping complexes and culture. Its richly layered analysis perfectly matches Hong Kong’s multi-story machines for consumption.” —Clifford Pearson, director of USC American Academy in China “Stefan Al has again produced a book that provides a sharp lens on radically new urban forms that are emerging in China. While his previous books, Villages in the City andFactory Towns of South China introduced the site of production and housing for the migrant labor of the Pearl River Delta, here we enter the phantasmagoria of the enormous interconnected free-trade shopping zone of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Mall City dissects the basic unit of this climate-controlled consumer landscape—the mall. This beautifully illustrated book is a must-read for those who wish to understand the future of public space in high-density cities.” —Brian McGrath, professor of urban design and dean of constructed environments, Parsons School of Design

Hong Kong’s Dreamworlds of Consumption

Mall City

Robert Cervero

Erick Guerra

Beyond Mobility is about prioritizing the needs and aspirations of people and the creation of great places. This is as important, if not more important, than expediting movement. A stronger focus on accessibility and place creates better communities, environments, and economies. There are many examples of communities across the globe working to create a seamless fit between transit and surrounding land uses, retrofit car-oriented suburbs, reclaim surplus or dangerous roadways for other activities, and revitalize neglected urban spaces like abandoned railways in urban centers. The authors draw on experiences and data from a range of cities and countries around the globe in making the case for moving beyond mobility.

Planning Cities for People and Places

Beyond Mobility

The global boom in skyscrapers—why it’s happening now, how they’re made, and what they do to cities and people. We are living in a new urban age and its most tangible expression is the “supertall”: megastructures that are dramatically bigger, higher, and more ambitious than any in history. In Supertall, TED Resident Stefan Al—himself an experienced architect who has worked on some of the largest buildings in the world—reveals the advancements in engineering, design, and data science that have led to this worldwide boom. Using examples from the past (the Empire State Building, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Eiffel Tower) and present (Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, London’s Shard, Shanghai Tower), he describes how the most remarkable skyscrapers have been designed and built. He explores the ingenious technological innovations—in cement, wind resistance, elevator design, and air-conditioning—that make the latest megastructures a reality. And he examines the risks of wealth inequality, carbon emissions, and contagion they yield while arguing for a more sustainable, resilient, and equitable built environment for everyone.

Supertall: How the World's Tallest Buildings Are Reshaping Our Cities and Our Lives

Epico ed emozionante, "Il Signore delle Ombre", non deluderà le aspettative di chi ha apprezzato i primi due libri. E' tempo di battaglie; è tempo di paura e di coraggio, di sconforto e di speranza, di vita e di morte... . "L'Avamposto di LaRoche è sotto assedio e soltanto la resistenza di pochi e impreparati uomini, impedisce all'Armata del Signore delle Ombre di invadere il Regno. Nell'ora più buia, quando anche determinazione e coraggio non saranno più sufficienti, soltanto la fiducia in un vecchio amico, conferirà ad Alagondar, la volontà di continuare a combattere una battaglia che non può essere vinta". "Attraverso il Mondo Sotterraneo, lungo l'Antico Cammino, sino alla leggendaria città di Athanos. Giorno dopo giorno, certezze e speranze si affievoliranno sempre più e ad Evinne rimarrà una sola possibilità per contrastare il suo terribile avversario: carpire i segreti racchiusi nella misteriosa Torre della Sapienza". Il viaggio si avvicina lentamente al suo inevitabile epilogo, ma gli ultimi tratti del suo percorso, si riveleranno i più imprevedibili, difficili e sofferti.

Stefan Al

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