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