Why read Icebergs, Zombies, and the Ultra-Thin?

Book cover of Icebergs, Zombies, and the Ultra-Thin: Architecture and Capitalism in the 21st Century

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"Soules's excellent book makes sense of the capitalist forces we all feel but cannot always name... Icebergs, Zombies, and the Ultra Thin arms architects and the general public with an essential understanding of how capitalism makes property. Required reading for those who think tomorrow can be different from today."- Jack…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Icebergs, Zombies, and the Ultra-Thin as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Leah Modigliani

Author

Through devastating stories of unoccupied housing developments in China and Spain, gargantuan mansions built mostly underground the streets of London, and pencil-thin skyscrapers in New York where residents never have to see each other, Soules explains how “architecture has become finance and finance has become architecture.”

In its relentless pursuit of profit, capital has created the conditions for the built environment to be redesigned and standardized for easier trading as cash liquidity. This movement since the 1980s explains both the rampant urbanization of the world and the increasing canyon between the haves and have-nots.

From Leah's list on moving through the city with newly critical eyes.