Cinema and the City in the Age of Planetary Urbanization

Amid deepening socio-ecological crises, urban realities are changing fundamentally. Cinema, a medium historically intertwined with the city, has likewise undergone a profound transformation in its modes of representation and visual culture since the late 1980s. Today, filmmakers, photographers, and radical artists investigate the distant landscapes and territories of extended urbanization in all their complexity. Films like Behemoth (Zhao Liang, 2015), Homo Urbanus (Ila Bêka & Louise Lemoine, 2010), and Leviathan (Véréna Paravel, 2012) exemplify this practice. But how do cinema and the representation of the city mutually shape each other? This book stages an encounter between filmmaking and the built environment, as well as film theory and the theory of planetary urbanization by deploying the notion of the urban sensorium as a conceptual lens. It foregrounds the multifaceted sensory experiences of urban life within and beyond the city, and its representation in cinema.

With a foreword by Neil Brenner and contributions by Nitin Bathla, Silvia Cipelletti, Markus Lähteenmäki, Klearjos E. Papanicolaou, Äsel Kadyrkhanova, Mosè Cometta, Jacqueline Maurer, Sofie Stilling, Søren Nielsen, Hans Teerds, Fred Truniger, Emil Hvelplund Kristiansen, Anne Romme, Lorenzo Tripodi, Adam Jasper, Junia Cambraia Mortimer, Roberto Luís Monte-Mór, Rosa Barba, Joshua Bonnetta and J.P. Sniadecki, Christian Schmid, Ana Vaz, Hira Nabi, Chrystel Oloukoï, Louise Lemoine and Ila Bêka

• Brings together contemporary visual culture with the transformative theory of planetary urbanization
• Features contributions from scholars, researchers, filmmakers, and practitioners
• Draws on various academic disciplines and creative practices including film, urban studies, geography, architecture, architectural history, and cultural studies

Excerpts of works by the filmmakers featured in the book can be accessed via the ETH Zürich Research Collection:

All the Dreams We Dream: Excerpt

ÄSEL KADYRKHANOVA

• https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-c-000788727
• https://video.ethz.ch/!v/PcPvCeiplv6

55°42’14.8”N 12°33’18.4”E

SOFIE STILLING, SØREN NIELSEN, and HANS TEERDS

• https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-c-000788734
• https://video.ethz.ch/!v/AMdfbtCtOvq

Teaching Architecture Through an Eye-Level Perspective: Examples

EMIL HVELPLUND KRISTIANSEN and ANNE ROMME

• https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-c-000788738
• https://video.ethz.ch/!v/E_FW8yYedhI
• https://video.ethz.ch/!v/MOQdFlbJsgk
• https://video.ethz.ch/!v/AII3KaUrTYu

Cinematic Urbanism: Examples

LORENZO TRIPODI

• https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-c-000788749
• https://video.ethz.ch/!v/FjH1PqUq0jr
• https://video.ethz.ch/!v/GA-bRExEClR
• https://video.ethz.ch/!v/AJ8mR5Uj-9T

We Have Extra Lives – Cinema, Gaming,

Language, and the Production of Hong Kong Space: Accompaniment

ADAM JASPER and PETER NELSON

• https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-c-000788744
• https://video.ethz.ch/!v/BR8nLSO09Oe

Urban-Nature Archives: Fragments

JUNIA CAMBRAIA MORTIMER and ROBERTO LUÍS MONTE-MÓR

• https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-c-000788732
• https://video.ethz.ch/!v/NQYeveOFdBD
• https://video.ethz.ch/!v/AebcYBoy-VN
• https://video.ethz.ch/!v/C86DCKISH_v

Community Media: Videos

CHRISTIAN SCHMID

• https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-c-000788750
• https://video.ethz.ch/!v/Pjs9WjHu53t
• https://video.ethz.ch/!v/HYy-qEUrPqy

All That Perishes At The Edge Of Land: Excerpts

HIRA NABI

• https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-c-000788729
• https://video.ethz.ch/!v/DlUjDUUFiSS
• https://video.ethz.ch/!v/MTUykQT6Pwv
• https://video.ethz.ch/!v/MFhdm2NKbQ6

Homo Urbanus: Trailer

LOUISE LEMOINE and ILA BÊKA

• https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-c-000788712
• https://video.ethz.ch/!v/GO2dwFW7_oi

Nitin Bathla is a researcher working at the intersection of urbanization, the environment, society, and the arts. He is the author of the award-winning book Researching Otherwise and the critically acclaimed documentary Not Just Roads. He serves as an editor for the journal Urban Geography, Shared Habitats, and the Urban Political Podcast, and sits on the editorial board of Urban Political Ecology.

Markus Lähteenmäki is a historian and curator of architecture working at EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Architectural Histories, Europe’s leading journal dedicated to architectural history and a pioneer of open access academic publishing.

Silvia Cipelletti holds a Master’s degree from the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio, where she is currently undertaking PhD research on border landscapes through video essays. She has also been working as a guest lecturer and teaching assistant for courses and workshops that investigate the interface between architecture and visual media.

Klearjos Eduardo Papanicolaou is a filmmaker and lecturer specializing in urban and sensory ethnography. His films include The Seven Sisters Indoor Market (with Marios Kleftakis), The Disappearance of Robin Hood (with Urban-Think Tank), Not Just Roads (with Nitin Bathla), and Hot Cold Wet Dry (with Marios Kleftakis). He teaches audiovisual ethnography to architecture students at the ETH Zurich.

Nitin Bathla ist Forscher an der Schnittstelle von Urbanisierung, Umwelt, Gesellschaft und Kunst. Er ist Autor des preisgekrönten Buches Researching Otherwise sowie des viel beachteten Dokumentarfilms Not Just Roads. Außerdem arbeitet er als Herausgeber der Fachzeitschriften Urban Geography, Shared Habitats und des Urban Political Podcast und gehört der Redaktionsleitung von Urban Political Ecology an.

Markus Lähteenmäki ist Historiker und Architekturkurator an der EPFL, der Eidgenössischen Technische Hochschule Lausanne. Er ist Chefredakteur von Architectural Histories, der führenden europäischen Fachzeitschrift für Architekturgeschichte und Vorreiter im Bereich des Open-Access-Publizierens in den Geisteswissenschaften.

Silvia Cipelletti hat einen Masterabschluss von der Accademia di Architettura in Mendrisio, wo sie derzeit im Rahmen einer Promotion zur Erforschung von Grenzlandschaften mittels Video-Essays arbeitet. Zudem war sie als Gastdozentin und wissenschaftliche Assistentin in Kursen und Workshops tätig, die die Schnittstellen von Architektur und visuellen Medien untersuchen.

Klearjos Eduardo Papanicolaou ist Filmemacher und Dozent mit Schwerpunkt auf urbaner und sensorischer Ethnografie. Zu seinen Filmen gehören The Seven Sisters Indoor Market (mit Marios Kleftakis), The Disappearance of Robin Hood (mit Urban-Think Tank), Not Just Roads (mit Nitin Bathla) und Hot Cold Wet Dry (mit Marios Kleftakis). Er lehrt audiovisuelle Ethnografie für Architekturstudierende an der ETH Zürich.