City of Extremes: The Spatial Politics of Johannesburg ... (paperback)

US $2.14
Condition:
Brand New
3 available
Breathe easy. Returns accepted.
Shipping:
US $4.49 Economy Shipping.
Located in: West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, United States
Delivery:
Estimated between Sat, May 24 and Thu, May 29 to 20147
Estimated delivery dates - opens in a new window or tab include seller's handling time, origin ZIP Code, destination ZIP Code and time of acceptance and will depend on shipping service selected and receipt of cleared paymentcleared payment - opens in a new window or tab. Delivery times may vary, especially during peak periods.
Returns:
30 days returns. Buyer pays for return shipping. If you use an eBay shipping label, it will be deducted from your refund amount.
Payments:
       Diners Club
Earn up to 5x points when you use your eBay Mastercard®. Learn moreabout earning points with eBay Mastercard

Shop with confidence

eBay Money Back Guarantee
Get the item you ordered or your money back. Learn moreeBay Money Back Guarantee - opens new window or tab
Seller assumes all responsibility for this listing.
eBay item number:296653806418
Last updated on May 14, 2025 11:33:14 PDTView all revisionsView all revisions

Item specifics

Condition
Brand New: A new, unread, unused book in perfect condition with no missing or damaged pages. See the ...
Artist
ExcelDna.Integration.ExcelEmpty
ISBN
9780822347682
Book Title
City of Extremes : the Spatial Politics of Johannesburg
Book Series
Politics, History, and Culture Ser.
Publisher
Duke University Press
Item Length
9.2 in
Publication Year
2011
Format
Trade Paperback
Language
English
Illustrator
Yes
Item Height
1.3 in
Author
Martin J. Murray
Genre
Political Science, Social Science, History
Topic
Sociology / General, Public Policy / City Planning & Urban Development, Africa / South / Republic of South Africa, World / African, Sociology / Urban
Item Weight
25.5 Oz
Item Width
6.1 in
Number of Pages
464 Pages

About this product

Product Identifiers

Publisher
Duke University Press
ISBN-10
0822347687
ISBN-13
9780822347682
eBay Product ID (ePID)
102843610

Product Key Features

Book Title
City of Extremes : the Spatial Politics of Johannesburg
Number of Pages
464 Pages
Language
English
Topic
Sociology / General, Public Policy / City Planning & Urban Development, Africa / South / Republic of South Africa, World / African, Sociology / Urban
Publication Year
2011
Illustrator
Yes
Genre
Political Science, Social Science, History
Author
Martin J. Murray
Book Series
Politics, History, and Culture Ser.
Format
Trade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height
1.3 in
Item Weight
25.5 Oz
Item Length
9.2 in
Item Width
6.1 in

Additional Product Features

LCCN
2010-039972
Reviews
"Martin J. Murray navigates the slippery interfaces where mega-development, social progress, dystopian dread, racial enclaving, and mobilities of all kinds intersect, revealing both the alarming disposition of Africa's most heterogeneous city and a rough-hewn humanity despite the odds. At each step, Murray is precise and impassioned in this no-holds-barred analysis of the lengths to which politicians, business people, planners, entrepreneurs, and developers will go to hold a city down."- AbdouMaliq Simone , author of For the City Yet to Come: Changing African Life in Four Cities, "Martin J. Murray navigates the slippery interfaces where mega-development, social progress, dystopian dread, racial enclaving, and mobilities of all kinds intersect, revealing both the alarming disposition of Africa's most heterogeneous city and a rough-hewn humanity despite the odds. At each step, Murray is precise and impassioned in this no-holds-barred analysis of the lengths to which politicians, business people, planners, entrepreneurs, and developers will go to hold a city a down."- AbdouMaliq Simone , author of For the City Yet to Come: Changing African Life in Four Cities, The political, economic, and social tensions that have accompanied the city's everchanging urban landscape are on display in this well-researched and penetrating work. . . . City of Extremes is a significant and helpful resource for the study of cities in an era of globalization and urbanization., "[Murray's] book is a careful and particular view of the make-up of these emblematic [Johannesburg] terrains, revealed through Murray's productive combinations of architecture, the scales of market forces, property values and square footage." - Suzanne M. Hall, Antipode, "Murray is a keen observer of postapartheid Johannesburg. . . ." - Dominic Thomas, Research in African Literatures, "The political, economic, and social tensions that have accompanied the city's everchanging urban landscape are on display in this well-researched and penetrating work. . . . City of Extremes is a significant and helpful resource for the study of cities in an era of globalization and urbanization." - Travis Vaughn, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, “In this meticulously researched account of Johannesburg’s socio-spatial history, Martin J. Murray gets beneath the surface of the city’s chaotic present to discover the inertia of long-term deployments. He finds that ingrained habits of urban planning and real estate entrepreneurship have always been mobilized in the city as twin mechanisms of change and renewal across moments of territorial mutation. This exposes post-apartheid transformation as a rearticulation of old orders and habits and makes an important contribution to revising the idea of decisive historical rupture at the end of apartheid.â€�- Lindsay Bremner , Professor of Architecture, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, The political, economic, and social tensions that have accompanied the city's everchanging urban landscape are on display in this well-researched and penetrating work. . . . City of Extremes is a significant and helpful resource for the study of cities in an era of globalization and urbanization., "In this meticulously researched account of Johannesburg's socio-spatial history, Martin J. Murray gets beneath the surface of the city's chaotic present to discover the inertia of long-term deployments. He finds that ingrained habits of urban planning and real estate entrepreneurship have always been mobilized in the city as twin mechanisms of change and renewal across moments of territorial mutation. This exposes post-apartheid transformation as a rearticulation of old orders and habits and makes an important contribution to revising the idea of a decisive historical rupture at the end of apartheid."-- Lindsay Bremner , Professor of Architecture, Tyler School of Art, Temple University "Martin J. Murray navigates the slippery interfaces where mega-development, social progress, dystopian dread, racial enclaving, and mobilities of all kinds intersect, revealing both the alarming disposition of Africa's most heterogeneous city and a rough-hewn humanity despite the odds. At each step, Murray is precise and impassioned in this no-holds-barred analysis of the lengths to which politicians, business people, planners, entrepreneurs, and developers will go to hold a city down."-- AbdouMaliq Simone , author of For the City Yet to Come: Changing African Life in Four Cities "This is a book that should be read with attentiveness. It traces the lines of a city in which profound daily violence and suffering coexist with theatrical excess. It shows in convincing breadth that although the living conditions of suburban enclaves and those who dwell in abandoned buildings of the inner city may be 'worlds apart,' they are also closely connected to one another, and part of the same historical and economic processes." -- Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon Mail & Guardian "The political, economic, and social tensions that have accompanied the city's everchanging urban landscape are on display in this well-researched and penetrating work. . . . City of Extremes is a significant and helpful resource for the study of cities in an era of globalization and urbanization." -- Travis Vaughn International Bulletin of Missionary Research "[A]n excellent addition to the literature on Johannesburg, and a must-read book for all serious scholars with an interest in the City of Gold." -- Keith Beavon Comparativ, “Martin J. Murray navigates the slippery interfaces where mega-development, social progress, dystopian dread, racial enclaving, and mobilities of all kinds intersect, revealing both an alarming disposition to Africa’s most heterogeneous city and a rough-hewn humanity despite the odds. At each step of the way, Murray is precise and impassioned in this no-holds barred analysis of the lengths politicians, businesspersons, planners, entrepreneurs, and developers will go to hold a city a down.â€�- AbdouMaliq Simone , author of For the City Yet to Come: Changing African Life in Four Cities, "In this meticulously researched account of Johannesburg's socio-spatial history, Martin J. Murray gets beneath the surface of the city's chaotic present to discover the inertia of long-term deployments. He finds that ingrained habits of urban planning and real estate entrepreneurship have always been mobilized in the city as twin mechanisms of change and renewal across moments of territorial mutation. This exposes post-apartheid transformation as a re-articulation of old orders and habits and makes an important contribution to revising the idea of decisive historical rupture at the end of apartheid."-Lindsay Bremner, Professor of Architecture, Tyler School of Art, Temple University "Martin J. Murray navigates the slippery interfaces where mega-development, social progress, dystopian dread, racial enclaving, and mobilities of all kinds intersect, revealing both an alarming disposition to Africa's most heterogeneous city and a rough-hewn humanity despite the odds. At each step of the way, Murray is precise and impassioned in this no-holds barred analysis of the lengths politicians, businesspersons, planners, entrepreneurs, and developers will go to hold a city a down." AbdouMaliq Simone, author ofFor the City Yet to Come: Changing African Life in Four Cities, This is a book that should be read with attentiveness. It traces the lines of a city in which profound daily violence and suffering coexist with theatrical excess. It shows in convincing breadth that although the living conditions of suburban enclaves and those who dwell in abandoned buildings of the inner city may be 'worlds apart,' they are also closely connected to one another, and part of the same historical and economic processes., "In this meticulously researched account of Johannesburg's socio-spatial history, Martin J. Murray gets beneath the surface of the city's chaotic present to discover the inertia of long-term deployments. He finds that ingrained habits of urban planning and real estate entrepreneurship have always been mobilized in the city as twin mechanisms of change and renewal across moments of territorial mutation. This exposes post-apartheid transformation as a rearticulation of old orders and habits and makes an important contribution to revising the idea of a decisive historical rupture at the end of apartheid."-- Lindsay Bremner , Professor of Architecture, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, [T]his is a book that should be read with attentiveness. It traces the lines of a city in which profound daily violence and suffering coexist with theatrical excess. It shows in convincing breadth that although the living conditions of suburban enclaves and those who dwell in abandoned buildings of the inner city may be 'worlds apart,' they are also closely connected to one another, and part of the same historical and economic processes., "In this meticulously researched account of Johannesburg's socio-spatial history, Martin J. Murray gets beneath the surface of the city's chaotic present to discover the inertia of long-term deployments. He finds that ingrained habits of urban planning and real estate entrepreneurship have always been mobilized in the city as twin mechanisms of change and renewal across moments of territorial mutation. This exposes post-apartheid transformation as a re-articulation of old orders and habits and makes an important contribution to revising the idea of decisive historical rupture at the end of apartheid."--Lindsay Bremner, Professor of Architecture, Tyler School of Art, Temple University "Martin J. Murray navigates the slippery interfaces where mega-development, social progress, dystopian dread, racial enclaving, and mobilities of all kinds intersect, revealing both an alarming disposition to Africa's most heterogeneous city and a rough-hewn humanity despite the odds. At each step of the way, Murray is precise and impassioned in this no-holds barred analysis of the lengths politicians, businesspersons, planners, entrepreneurs, and developers will go to hold a city a down." AbdouMaliq Simone, author of For the City Yet to Come: Changing African Life in Four Cities " City of Extremes: The Spatial Politics of Johannesburg , Martin Murray's second book on Johannesburg, South Africa, is a critical portrait of contemporary Johannesburg, or more exactly of the spatial dynamics that have been and are shaping the city. Murray's main argument is that the inherited spatial inequalities, which used to divide Johannesburg along racial lines during the colonization and apartheid eras, not only are far from being overcome, but also have been reactivated and remodeled by new socioeconomic inequalities, generated by real estate capitalism. Built environment is thus understood as a reflection and a result of the contradictions of real estate capitalism through time. Tacking on the issue of socio-spatial fragmentation, Murray offers thus an interesting reading of the "spatial politics" that are at work behind urban forms in Johannesburg but also, more generally, in many contemporary cities all over the world."-- Pauline Guinard, H-Safrica , October 2013, "Martin J. Murray navigates the slippery interfaces where mega-development, social progress, dystopian dread, racial enclaving, and mobilities of all kinds intersect, revealing both the alarming disposition of Africa's most heterogeneous city and a rough-hewn humanity despite the odds. At each step, Murray is precise and impassioned in this no-holds-barred analysis of the lengths to which politicians, business people, planners, entrepreneurs, and developers will go to hold a city down."-- AbdouMaliq Simone , author of For the City Yet to Come: Changing African Life in Four Cities,  "[A]n excellent addition to the literature on Johannesburg, and a must-read book for all serious scholars with an interest in the City of Gold.", "In this meticulously researched account of Johannesburg's socio-spatial history, Martin J. Murray gets beneath the surface of the city's chaotic present to discover the inertia of long-term deployments. He finds that ingrained habits of urban planning and real estate entrepreneurship have always been mobilized in the city as twin mechanisms of change and renewal across moments of territorial mutation. This exposes post-apartheid transformation as a rearticulation of old orders and habits and makes an important contribution to revising the idea of a decisive historical rupture at the end of apartheid."- Lindsay Bremner , Professor of Architecture, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, "[T]his is a book that should be read with attentiveness. It traces the lines of a city in which profound daily violence and suffering coexist with theatrical excess. It shows in convincing breadth that although the living conditions of suburban enclaves and those who dwell in abandoned buildings of the inner city may be 'worlds apart,' they are also closely connected to one another, and part of the same historical and economic processes." - Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon, Mail and Guardian, "In this meticulously researched account of Johannesburg's socio-spatial history, Martin J. Murray gets beneath the surface of the city's chaotic present to discover the inertia of long-term deployments. He finds that ingrained habits of urban planning and real estate entrepreneurship have always been mobilized in the city as twin mechanisms of change and renewal across moments of territorial mutation. This exposes post-apartheid transformation as a re-articulation of old orders and habits and makes an important contribution to revising the idea of decisive historical rupture at the end of apartheid."--Lindsay Bremner, Professor of Architecture, Tyler School of Art, Temple University "Martin J. Murray navigates the slippery interfaces where mega-development, social progress, dystopian dread, racial enclaving, and mobilities of all kinds intersect, revealing both an alarming disposition to Africa's most heterogeneous city and a rough-hewn humanity despite the odds. At each step of the way, Murray is precise and impassioned in this no-holds barred analysis of the lengths politicians, businesspersons, planners, entrepreneurs, and developers will go to hold a city a down." AbdouMaliq Simone, author of For the City Yet to Come: Changing African Life in Four Cities, [A]n excellent addition to the literature on Johannesburg, and a must-read book for all serious scholars with an interest in the City of Gold.
Dewey Edition
22
Dewey Decimal
307.1/160968221
Table Of Content
List of Maps vii List of Illustrations ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xxvii Abbreviations xxxi Introduction. Spatial Politics in the Precarious City 1 Part I 23 Making Space: City Building and the Production of the Built Enivronment 1. The Restless Urban Landscape: The Evolving Spatial Geography of Johannesburg 29 2. The Flawed Promise of the High-Modernist City: City Building at the Apex of Apartheid Rule 59 Part II 83 Unraveling Space: Centrifugal Urbanism and the Convulsive City 3. Hollowing out the Center: Johannesburg Turned Inside Out 87 4. Worlds Apart: The Johannesburg Inner City and the Making of the Outcast Ghetto 137 5. The Splintering Metropolis: Laissez-faire Urbanism and Unfettered Suburban Sprawl 173 Part III 205 Fortifying Space: Siege Architecture and Anxious Urbanism 6. Defensive Urbanism after Apartheid: Spatial Partitioning and the New Fortification Aesthetic 213 7. Entrepreneurial Urbanism and the Private City 245 8. Reconciling Arcadia and Utopia: Gated Residential Estates at the Metropolitan Edge 283 Epilogue. Putting Johannesburg in Its Place: The Ordinary City 321 Appendix 333 Notes 337 Bibliography 423 Index 463
Synopsis
A powerful critique of urban development in greater Johannesburg since the end of apartheid in 1994., City of Extremes is a powerful critique of urban development in greater Johannesburg since the end of apartheid in 1994. Martin J. Murray describes how a loose alliance of city builders--including real estate developers, large-scale property owners, municipal officials, and security specialists--has sought to remake Johannesburg in the upbeat image of a world-class city. By creating new sites of sequestered luxury catering to the comfort, safety, and security of affluent urban residents, they have produced a new spatial dynamic of social exclusion, effectively barricading the mostly black urban poor from full participation in the mainstream of urban life. This partitioning of the cityscape is enabled by an urban planning environment of limited regulation or intervention into the prerogatives of real estate capital. Combining insights from urban studies, cultural geography, and urban sociology with extensive research in South Africa, Murray reflects on the implications of Johannesburg's dual character as a city of fortified enclaves that proudly displays the ostentatious symbols of global integration and the celebrated "enterprise culture" of neoliberal design, and as the "miasmal city" composed of residual, peripheral, and stigmatized zones characterized by signs of a new kind of marginality. He suggests that the "global cities" paradigm is inadequate to understanding the historical specificity of cities in the Global South, including the colonial mining town turned postcolonial megacity of Johannesburg.
LC Classification Number
HN801

Item description from the seller

About this seller

plumcirclebooks

99.8% positive feedback893K items sold

Joined Jul 2003
PlumCircle sells quality books, publisher overstocks & remainders, for low prices. We ship your items within one business day. Our feedback shows our commitment to our customers.

Detailed seller ratings

Average for the last 12 months
Accurate description
5.0
Reasonable shipping cost
4.9
Shipping speed
5.0
Communication
4.9

Popular categories from this store

Seller feedback (393,215)

All ratings
Positive
Neutral
Negative
  • y***0 (347)- Feedback left by buyer.
    Past 6 months
    Verified purchase
    A++++ Seller they gave me a great price and shipped it immediately and communicated friendly. Shipping g took a couple days, maybe 4. It was packaged thoughtfully. I am so suprized it's brand new! I am so happy. If you want quality books at a great price shop with these guys. It is exactly as in the pictures. I'm definitely a customer for life.
  • d***d (799)- Feedback left by buyer.
    Past month
    Verified purchase
    The book is in like new condition, better than described! It was listed at a most reasonable price, and the listing itself was incredibly detailed, a feature I look for and rarely find. The book was very well-packaged and shipped quickly. I would not hesitate to purchase from this Seller again. Thank you for a perfect transaction!
  • p***m (259)- Feedback left by buyer.
    Past 6 months
    Verified purchase
    A+ Highest Rating for this very cool Seller! Minty and shrink-wrapped Marvel Uncanny Inhumans Vol. 2 hardcover - condition & quality Brand New, as described! Shipping was Super-Fast ( 1 week) & safe (sturdy bubble wrap envelope!). Best (lowest) price I could find. Right on! Very satisfied and would buy here again without question. 5 STARS
|Listed in category: