{"product_id":"iron-curtains-isbn-9781444338270","title":"Iron Curtains","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eIron Curtains\u003c\/i\u003e has been awarded Honorable Mention for the 2013 ASEEES Harvard Davis Center Book Prize! The prize is sponsored by Harvard University's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and is awarded annually by the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, for an outstanding monograph published on Russia, Eurasia, or Eastern Europe in anthropology, political science, sociology, or geography.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eUtilizing research conducted primarily with residents of Sofia, Bulgaria, \u003ci\u003eIron Curtains: Gates, Suburbs, and Privatization of Space in the Post-socialist City\u003c\/i\u003e explores the human dimension of new city-building that has emerged in East Europe.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e \u003cli\u003eFeatures original data, illustrations, and theory on the process of privatization of resources in societies undergoing fundamental socio-economic transformations, such as those in Eastern Europe\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eRepresents the sole in-depth monograph on contemporary urbanism in Southeast Europe\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eMakes a broader statement on issues of urbanism in Europe and other parts of the world while highlighting the complex connections between cultures and cities\u003c\/li\u003e \u003c\/ul\u003e  \u003ci\u003eList of Illustrations and Tables\u003c\/i\u003e viii  \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSeries Editors’ Preface\u003c\/i\u003e xi\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAcknowledgements\u003c\/i\u003e xii\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1 Introduction 1\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e2 Public, Private, Privatism 14\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e3 The Post-socialist City 34\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e4 Post-modern Urbanism Revisited 60\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e5 Sofia: Wither the Socialist City 81\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e6 The Ninth Ring: Suburbanizing Sofia 105\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e7 Iron Curtains I: Gated Homes 131\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e8 Iron Curtains II: Gated Complexes 149\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e9 Architecture of Disunity 170\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e10 Possibilities 191\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eReferences\u003c\/i\u003e 198\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eIndex\u003c\/i\u003e 220\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSonia Hirt\u003c\/b\u003e is Associate Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning at the School of Public and International Affairs and the College of Architecture and Urban Studies at Virginia Tech, and was recently Visiting Associate Professor of Urban Planning at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. Hirt is the author of over 40 publications on urban forms, planning and design and is co-author of \u003ci\u003eTwenty Years of Transition: The Evolution of Urban Planning in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union, 1989-2009\u003c\/i\u003e (2009; with Kiril Stanilov).\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eThe fall of state socialism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union was arguably the most significant political event of the late 20th century. For many, this dramatic historic shift was symbolized by the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, an iconic emblem of fear and division. Yet only twenty years later, many new walls—both physical and imaginary—have been erected across Eastern Europe, including redrawn state borders, partitioned cities, and myriad walled-off urban spaces.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eIron Curtains: Gates, Suburbs, and Privatization of Space in the Post-socialist City\u003c\/i\u003e explores the human dimension of new city-building that has emerged in East Europe. Utilizing firsthand research culled from more than 100 interviews conducted primarily in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia—a city whose public spaces have unraveled over the last two decades—Sonia Hirt examines the ways people live and experience the new, post-socialist urbanism. Also addressed are what these new spaces tell us about their builders, users, and inhabitants. Embracing an explicitly cultural approach, the author suggests that disappointment with socialist and post-socialist conditions has led to mass skepticism toward the public domain, further resulting in a radical de-construction of public spaces. \u003ci\u003eIron Curtains\u003c\/i\u003e offers provocative insights into the complex relationship between society and space during times of fundamental change.\u003c\/p\u003e  This masterful and wide-ranging exploration of an ‘ordinary’ city in the postsocialist world – an area which has been largely overlooked by theorists of modernity and postmodernity – brings important and unexpected insights into the nature of contemporary urbanism and the postmodern cultural condition more generally. Timely, interesting and extremely engaging, the book also stands out for its skilful and seamless integration of a wealth of detailed observation with a strongly theoretical approach.\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eEkaterina Makarova, University of Virginia\u003c\/b\u003e  \u003cp\u003eDrawing from deep personal insight as well as 100 interviews, Hirt describes a shift from “bland to brass,” sheds light upon privatism as a cultural condition, and reveals prospects for rejuvenating the public realm in the global context. This compelling and passionate account about why the post-wall world is so busy building walls fills a gaping hole in the literature on urbanism.\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eNan Ellin, University of Utah\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wiley-Blackwell","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47989478818021,"sku":"NP9781444338270","price":99.75,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781444338270.jpg?v=1761784266","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/iron-curtains-isbn-9781444338270","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}