Ethics of a Potential Urbanism

<p>The Ethics of a Potential Urbanism explores the possible and potential relevance of Giorgio Agamben’s political thoughts and writings for the theory and the practice of architecture and urban design. It sketches out the potentiality of Agamben’s politics, which can affect change in current architectural and design discourses. The book investigates the possibility of an <i>inoperative architecture</i>, as an ethical shift for a different practice, just a little bit different, but able to deactivate the sociospatial dispositive and mobilize a new theory and a new project for the urban now to come. This particular reading from Agamben’s oeuvre suggests a <i>destituent </i>mode of both thinking and practicing of architecture and urbanism that could possibly redeem them from their social emptiness, cultural irrelevance, economic reductionism and proto-avant-garde extravagance, contributing to a renewed critical ‘encounter’ with architecture’s aesthetic-political function.</p> <p>1. Introduction: An Architecture Inseparable from its Form, <b>Part I: Agamben’s Burning House</b>, 2. Paradigmatic Spaces: Agamben Spaces, Architecture and Arts, 3. Literal and Artistic Potential Common Grounds, 4. The Taking Place of Possible Inoperative Encounters, <b>Part II: Giorgio Agamben’s <em>Oeuvre</em>, </b>5. Earlier Works: <em>The Man Without Contents, Stanzas</em> and <em>Language and History</em>, 6. The Coming Politics and Potentialities: <em>The Coming Community</em>, 7. The <em>Homo Sacer</em> project since its inception to<em> Stasis</em>, <b>Part III: Towards an Inoperative Architecture, </b>8. Paradigms and <em>Dispositifs</em>, 9. Profanation, 10. Potentialities, 11. Inoperativity, 12. Use, 13. Abandoning the Project: The Possibility for a <em>Whatever Architecture</em></p>