PD Smith

London’s Squares & Time Travel

PD Smith — Sat, 19 May 2012 16:11:29 +0000

I've just reviewed two very different but fascinating books: The London Square: Gardens in the Midst of Town, by Todd Longstaffe-Gowan and Build Your Own Time Machine: The Real Science of Time Travel, by Brian Clegg.

I've always thought London's garden squares are one of the most beautiful features of the capital (especially Russell Square garden, above), so I was delighted to read Todd Longstaffe-Gowan's beautifully illustrated book:

"Squares are arguably London's most significant contribution to the development of urban form (there are some 300 in Greater London). Inspired by the Italian piazza, they were introduced in the 17th century as a way of creating open spaces at the centre of London's new residential neighbourhoods. But it was not until the following century that their gardens were enclosed and the gates locked against the 'rudeness of the populace'."

Read the rest of the review at the Guardian.

Brian Clegg's study of time travel is an excellent survey of an endlessly fascinating subject. A delight for all epicures of duration. My review was in the TLS. Read it here.

The urban age

PD Smith — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:13:57 +0000

"Human history would be vastly different without cities. The move from village life, where one is surrounded by family and kin, to urban life among strangers – this has fundamentally shaped us as a species. Cities, as Lewis Mumford has said, are 'the molds in which men’s lifetimes have cooled and congealed.' Writing begins in cities, and cities are where the first libraries and museums are built. These dense centres of humanity have nurtured trade, science, religion, philosophy and theatre. The story of cities is also the story of human civilisation."

I've been interviewed about my new book City by Karl Whitney. Read the full interview at 3:AM Magazine.

Building the New Jerusalem

PD Smith — Mon, 14 May 2012 12:36:05 +0000

When I was reviewing a collection of Michael Moorcock's non-fiction recently, I was struck by this passage from a piece he wrote about London in 1988, called 'Building the New Jerusalem':

'Cities can be neither simplified nor easily defined. They are hard to interpret. They are the ultimate and natural expression of human evolution, of human dreams and needs; they are as complex as the people who build them, as the planet itself; they have a sensitive ecology. In their architecture and their social organisation they are capable of reflecting the very best in us.'

That's a wonderful quote that neatly encapsulates what I was trying to achieve in my book City. On the future of London, he writes:

'Instead of retreating from the notion of the megametropolis we should have embraced it, celebrated it, grown comfortable with it, equipped it with hospitals, crèches, schools, houses set among imaginatively laid-out parks and "wild gardens", with low-rise asymmetrical buildings designed to blend with and reflect the organic world around them. We should acknowledge and revel in the natural complexity of the London we can create for ourselves.'

It's an inspirational piece of writing about cities in general and London in particular. The collection - London Peculiar and Other Nonfiction - is well worth reading.

Our natural mode of living

PD Smith — Tue, 08 May 2012 17:24:22 +0000

"The character of a city comes from its people. And that’s why the best cities are multicultural and cosmopolitan: there’s a unique atmosphere when people are constantly negotiating the differences between cultures and languages. I hope what this book shows is how positive that is, and how urbanism isn’t a new thing. It’s our natural mode of living.”

From my interview with Vision magazine about urbanism, Dubai and my new book, City: A Guidebook for the Urban Age.
Read more here.

Losing myself in Tokyo

PD Smith — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:52:28 +0000

I’ve just returned after a holiday in Japan. It was my first time there. We stayed in Tokyo and Kyoto, with a few days in the mountains of Hakone. As I write, my brain keeps telling me it’s the middle of the night. I’m dog-tired but my mind is also buzzing with the sights and sounds of Japanese cities.

In the sixteenth century, Tokyo was little more than a small town. Now it’s the largest metropolis on the planet, with some 33 million people living in the metropolitan region. That’s about the same number as live in the whole of Canada.

Continue reading...

A shining city on a hill

PD Smith — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 17:34:26 +0000

Very pleased to see this description of City in today's Kirkus Reviews: "As exciting, sprawling and multifarious as a shining city on a hill."

Bloomsbury Publishing have also just sent me a link to a digital sampler of the book, so you can judge for yourself. It's online here.

Starred review

PD Smith — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:17:23 +0000

When you've spent the last couple of years researching and writing a book it's always a rather nerve-racking experience waiting for the first reviews. So I was delighted to read the first one for City which has just appeared in Publishers Weekly. It's a starred review and this is a taster:

"Whether evoking the slums of Mumbai, a 1905 dinner party at London’s Savoy Hotel, or the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán before Cortés conquered it in 1521, Smith proves a lively, learned narrator with a strong synthetic sense. Discursive, imaginative, and comprehensive, his analysis of everything from the Hanging Gardens of Babylon to skateboarding and graffiti should be savored. Read in parts or whole, readers can wander and drift, and enjoy the element of surprise, just as in the exploration of a real city."

You can read the review here.

This Urban Age

PD Smith — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:32:24 +0000

"In 1900, just 10% of the world’s population lived in cities. Today more than half of humanity are city dwellers, and with each day that passes this proportion rises inexorably. We are living in a truly urban age. Global cities have become the engines of the modern economy and decisions made in cities touch the lives of every person on the planet. The challenges faced by the world today, from climate change to poverty and inequality, are concentrated in cities and often played out on their streets, in demonstrations and riots. The city has become the theatre of our anxieties as well as our hopes."

My review of Living in the Endless City, edited by Ricky Burdett and Deyan Sudjic, and The New Blackwell Companion to the City, edited by Gary Bridge and Sophie Watson, is in the current Times Literary Supplement (February 10, 2012, p 24). I have posted a somewhat longer version of the published review here.

US Proofs of City

PD Smith — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:11:45 +0000

Today, the postman delivered a box containing proof copies of the US edition of City: A Guidebook for the Urban Age (Bloomsbury Press). It's a really great feeling, after so many months and years of work, to finally have a bound copy in your hands - even an uncorrected black & white proof...

The full-colour hardback of City is due in shops in May (UK) and June (US).

Ghetto at the Center of the World

PD Smith — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:45:43 +0000

“I seek in this book to celebrate Chungking Mansions in its extraordinary and largely harmonious cultural diversity. It is an amazing place, one that should be lauded in Hong Kong and the world over.”

My review of Gordon Mathews' fascinating book Ghetto at the Center of the World: Chungking Mansions, Hong Kong is in this week's TLS. You can read it online here.