How Ruins Acquire Aesthetic Value [electronic resource] : Modern Ruins, Ruin Porn, and the Ruin Tradition /
Whitehouse, Tanya.author.
This book provides the first recent philosophical account of how ruins acquire aesthetic value. It draws on a variety of sources to explore modern ruins, the ruin tradition, and the phenomenon of "ruin porn." It features an unusual and original combination of philosophical analysis, the author's photography, and reviews of both new and historically influential case studies, including Richard Haag's Gas Works Park, the ruins of Detroit, and remnants of the steel industry of Pennsylvania. Tanya Whitehouse shows how the users of ruins can become architects of a new order, transforming derelict sites into aesthetically significant places we should preserve.
1. Prologue: Ruins, and "Ruin Porn," in American Cities -- 2. Fascination with Ruins -- 3. From Blight to Beauty: The Controversial Creation of the First US Industrial-Heritage Park -- 4. Detroit: New Ruins and Old Problems -- 5. Resolving Our Judgments: Understanding How Ruins Acquire and Exhibit Aesthetic Value -- 6. The Ruin-Industrial Aesthetic: Ruins, and Ruin-Like Environments, Acquiring Aesthetic Value -- 7. Assessing Function and the Ruin Category -- 8. Epilogue: Ruins Rising from the Ashes.
This book provides the first recent philosophical account of how ruins acquire aesthetic value. It draws on a variety of sources to explore modern ruins, the ruin tradition, and the phenomenon of "ruin porn." It features an unusual and original combination of philosophical analysis, the author's photography, and reviews of both new and historically influential case studies, including Richard Haag's Gas Works Park, the ruins of Detroit, and remnants of the steel industry of Pennsylvania. Tanya Whitehouse shows how the users of ruins can become architects of a new order, transforming derelict sites into aesthetically significant places we should preserve.
Aesthetics.
Cities and towns-History.
Architecture.
Sociology, Urban.
Aesthetics.
Urban History.
Urbanism.
Urban Studies/Sociology.