The Global Turn

An investigation of globalization's effects on architecture and urban design between the start of World War II and the fall of the Berlin Wall

To what extent did the circulation of people, commodities and knowledge affect architecture and urban design between World War II and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989? Swiss urban studies professor Tom Avermaete teams up with Chicago-based architect Michelangelo Sabatino to interrogate the influence of globalization on postwar architecture. Globalization is a complex phenomenon that has profoundly affected the practice of designers and engineers in the postwar era as it simultaneously expands and shrinks the world in which we live.

Avermaete and Sabatino arrive at several conclusions through a diligent analysis of spatial, political and social geographies, from airports and hotels to construction materials and labor. The Global Turn presents their findings in a series of six short essays, providing a fresh viewpoint on a new worldwide environment that gives as much as it takes.