Shaping Cities in an Urban Age: LSE Cities' new book on Mexico City and Paris

The LSE Cities research centre, led by Ricky Burdett, has published 'Shaping Cities in an Urban Age', a volume analysing global urbanisation processes. The book was presented in September 2018 at the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale, where curator Shelley McNamara discussed urban strategies with authors José Castillo and Jean-Louis Missika. The volume examines cities like Mexico City and Paris as paradigms of post-expansion urban rethinking. In Mexico City, architect José Castillo highlights chronic issues such as monumental rhetoric and autocratic planning, but also successful public space projects like La Mexicana park in Santa Fe, designed by Castillo himself, and the SESC 24 de Maio tower in São Paulo. Paris, under mayor Anne Hidalgo and urbanism deputy Jean-Louis Missika, launched the 'Reinventer Paris' plan in 2014, with 23 private projects on underused public sites selected for innovation, sustainability, and public access. Architects involved include David Chipperfield, Sou Fujimoto, Olafur Eliasson, Manuelle Gautrand, and Jacques Ferrier. The plan also includes redesigning major squares like Place de la République to prioritise pedestrians and public transport. The book argues that architects and urbanists have the tools to act concretely despite globalisation, drawing on the legacy of John Turner, who studied Lima's barriadas in the 1950s and published 'Freedom to Build' in 1972.