A Book Reviewing Michel Foucault’s Theory on Architecture and Urban Planning

According to the Iran Book News Agency (IBNA), a book reviewing Michel Foucault’s theory on architecture and urban planning, focusing on explaining Foucault’s theory of heterotopia, has recently been published. The book, compiled and edited by Michel Dehaene and Lieven De Cauter, was translated by Maryam Amiri.

Heterotopia, literally meaning “other places,” is considered a rich concept in urban design that describes a world inverted compared to normal, everyday spaces; a world that holds multiple, disconnected, and even contradictory meanings. First proposed by Foucault in the late 1960s, the term has since significantly influenced architectural and urban planning theories, although it remains a source of confusion and debate.

The book explores heterotopias present in our contemporary world; in museums, theme parks, shopping centers, entertainment complexes, gated communities, wellness hotels, and seasonal markets.

The book on heterotopia includes a collection of theoretical essays on the concept, including a new translation of Foucault’s 1967 text titled “Of Other Spaces,” accompanied by a series of critical case studies.

In “Heterotopia and the City,” topics range from the “marketization” of the agora to the “enclosure” of residential areas and the “theming” of urban renewal. Through case studies on Jakarta, Dubai, and Kinshasa, the reader encounters manifestations of our fragmented and postmodern condition.

This book is a collective effort to redefine the position of heterotopia as a key concept in contemporary urban theory and to reorient current discussions on the privatization of public spaces.

“Heterotopia and the City” will be useful for all those who wish to understand the city within the framework of emerging postmodern society, including planners, architects, cultural theorists, urban designers, and academic researchers.

Michel Dehaene teaches urbanism at Eindhoven University of Technology and is a postdoctoral researcher at KU Leuven. Lieven De Cauter studied philosophy and art history and teaches at the Faculty of Architecture at KU Leuven, RITS School of Arts, and the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam.

Maryam Amiri, who translated this book, has previously authored the books “Installation Art” and “Representation, Otherness, and Instagram.”

The book “Heterotopia and the City” was published by Avineh Press in 524 pages (folio size).