Cinematic Urbanism

The city and the cinema have become inextricably intertwined over the last century, with the identities of places becoming bound up in their cinematic portrayals. We have seen the landmarks of New York, London, Tokyo and a thousand others turn into iconic symbols of wealth, power, status, style and culture, and for the majority of people the images and sounds of movies form the only experience they will ever have of distant cities. Alsayyad here argues that our understanding of the city cannot be viewed independently of cinematic experience. Films do not only capture the depiction of a society; they influence the way we construct images of the world and, as a result, how we operate within it. Inexorably, we are coming to blur the distinction between what is real in the everyday and how we imagine the everyday. "Cinematic Urbanism" explores this dynamic, bringing together insights from urban and film studies to illuminate current architectural debate.