Vanessa Miriam Carlow Knihy

In einer sich urbanisierenden Welt gilt die Stadt als Leitbild und Maß aller Dinge. Für viele Jahre war die Aufmerksamkeit von ArchitektInnen und PlanerInnen fast ausschließlich auf den urbanen Raum ausgerichtet. Hingegen verbinden sich mit dem ländlichen Raum all zu oft Vorstellungen von wirtschaftlichem Niedergang, Stagnation und Resignation. Dabei transformieren sich ländliche Räume fast ebenso radikal wie Städte. Darüber hinaus spielt der ländliche Raum eine entscheidende Rolle für die nachhaltige Entwicklung unserer Lebenswelt – untrennbar mit der Stadt verbunden als Ressource und Reservoir. Einst abgeschieden, ist der ländliche Raum heute längst durchzogen von den regionalen und globalen Menschen-, Güter-, Abfall-, Energie- und Informationsströmen, die ihn mit den urbanen Systemen verknüpfen und diese überhaupt erst funktionsfähig machen. Ruralism widmet sich der Bedeutung des ländlichen Raums als Ausgangspunkt für Transformationen: Welche Auffassungen des ruralen Lebens existieren gegenwärtig? In welcher Verbindung stehen urbane und rurale Konzepte? Lassen sich aus diesen Verbindungen auch Impulse für die Gestaltung des urbanen Raums ziehen? Internationale WissenschaftlerInnen beleuchten den ländlichen Raum aus einer architektonischen, kulturellen, genderorientierten, ökologischen und politischen Perspektive und fragen, wie eine (neue) Vision des Ruralen formuliert werden kann.

Urban and rural areas alike witness severe dynamics. Moreover, understandings of what constitutes the urban and the rural are changing, too. Metapolis conceptualizes the network of urban and rural settlements interconnected by flows of people, goods, and information. How can this Metapolis be understood and evolve in a more sustainable manner? By example of two study regions in Lower Saxony--a federal state of Germany consisting of few large cities, mostly mid-sized and small towns, suburbs, and villages--this volume presents an innovative analytical framework called Topoi, offering a new perspective on urban-rural development. Different scenarios explore innovative solutions for sustainable planning and design along the urban-rural gradient. With contributions by Vanessa Carlow, Grace Abou Jaoude, Chantal Karadag, Olaf Mumm, Marie Scheer, and Kristin Schoning

' Design a car that can carry farmers and eggs across a field, without breaking the eggs'That was the design brief from Citroen vice Presdent Pierre Boulanger, it was a huge task, a difficult brief but it was exactly what they managed to do.

The Morris Minor is an iconic British car. This book is a fascinating introduction to the development of this vehicle and how contemporary events affected the car design.

In late 1956 France & the U.K. failed in an attempt to take over the Suez canal. This led to fuel rationing, a new small car was vital.

This book is designed to support poor readers by giving them overtly adult material but where the language has been calculated using a reading age scale on a computer program.

Space is a non-renewable resource. What happens when this resource becomes scarce and towns and cities can no longer expand? Is it possible to conceive of spatial development without expansion? Two spatially restricted cities in Europe—West Berlin at the time of the Berlin Wall from 1961 to 1989, and London, which has been enclosed by a green belt since 1958—demonstrate the consequences and imperatives of such a scenario. If both cases are understood as the consequence of spatial limitation strategies, they provide insights into the challenges as well as the potential that such restrictions present in practice. They show how spatially limited cities take a new direction in order to find their own particular form, structure, and aesthetics, and how this results in innovations in planning culture. Based on extensive map material and analyses, Limits: Space as Resource explores the spatial components of the complex question of sustainability at the urban scale, in order to contribute to a more in-depth and refined understanding of sustainable urban development.