The Freedoms of Suburbia
By Paul Barker Photographs by Philippa Lewis
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Online price: £25.00
This title is currently availableHardback, 240pp Published: 5th November 2009 Category: Architecture, Art and Design  |
The suburb is Britain's key contribution to world architecture - and it has spread like a virus. For decades suburbia was sneered at by those with taste and money; Barker attempts to expose this as class and intellectual prejudice, and redefines the suburb as a successful heterotopia. - Financial Times
An elegantly argued, appealingly illustrated essay, he makes the case for suburbia into a fanfare for the common man. - Scotsman
Cuts through the snobbery to mount a passionate defence of the "amazing adaptability" of life there. - Bookseller
This is a highly readable and thought-provoking essay on the way we live today. - Waterstone's Books Quarterly
Worth reading the ruminations of a keen intellect and a good writer on a subject close to his heart. Besides, he's right. Suburbs are not to be sneezed at. - RIBA Journal
Barker's polemic offers a fascinating foray into social history. - Ham & High
It seems more productive to learn from suburbia's successes than to dismiss if for not fitting our ideals. Barker's book, with its beautiful photographs and genuine love of its subject, is a decent attempt to do just that. - Architecture Today
A highly entertaining treatise that recognises the worth of humane architects and the wickedness of red tape. - Camden New Journal
Enchanting and persuasive.
- Times Literary Supplement
Walking through suburbia, others might see faded semis, but Paul Barker sees an amazing adaptability. Garages turned into storerooms, front gardens turned into garages, front doors personalised and giving out subtle social signals. The suburb is, in his words, 'the great national balancing act between privacy and price'.
'Suburban' is regularly used as a sneer-word. Especially by architects and planners. But suburbia must be doing something right. In Britain, four out of five people (at least) live here. It is best to try to understand, Barker says, before rushing to condemn. Suburbs are an essential part of every city. Often, the most vigourous, innovative part. A land of liberty.
With his keen eye for revealing detail, Barker takes us on an entertaining and enlightening journey - to enjoy a tower block being festively blown up; to meet a white witch in a Croydon semi; to savour the hidden charms of Milton Keynes; and to cherish the delights of allotments, seaside bungalows and town-edge malls.
He paints a humane yet provocative portrait of 21st-century living and throws down a gauntlet to anyone thinking about the future of cities, towns and countryside. Much of what passes for urban planning is, he argues, sheer bossiness and snobbery. It boils down to saying: 'Find out what all those people are doing, and tell them to stop it.' We need less planning, not more.
240 pages
167 illustrations in colour and black and white
