Code and Clay, Data and Dirt (Paperback)

Shannon Mattern

ISBN 10: 1517902444 / ISBN 13: 9781517902445

Published by University of Minnesota Press, Minnesota, 2017

About this Item

Paperback. Offering powerful new ways of thinking about ourcities, Shannon Mattern goes far beyond the historical concepts of origins,development, revolutions, and the accomplishments of an elite few. Her vividprose leads readers through a historically and geographically broad range ofstories and takes media archaeology to the city's streets, revealing new waysto write our urban, media, and cultural histories. Five Thousand Years of Urban Media. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781517902445

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Code and Clay, Data and Dirt (Paperback)
• Publisher: University of Minnesota Press, Minnesota
• Publication Date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1517902444
• ISBN 13: 9781517902445
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

For years, pundits have trumpeted the earthshattering changes that big data and smart networks will soon bring to our cities. But what if cities have long been built for intelligence, maybe for millennia? In Code and Clay, Data and Dirt Shannon Mattern advances the provocative argument that our urban spaces have been “smart” and mediated for thousands of years.

Offering powerful new ways of thinking about our cities, Code and Clay, Data and Dirt goes far beyond the standard historical concepts of origins, development, revolutions, and the accomplishments of an elite few. Mattern shows that in their architecture, laws, street layouts, and civic knowledge—and through technologies including the telephone, telegraph, radio, printing, writing, and even the human voice—cities have long negotiated a rich exchange between analog and digital, code and clay, data and dirt, ether and ore. 

Mattern’s vivid prose takes readers through a historically and geographically broad range of stories, scenes, and locations, synthesizing a new narrative for our urban spaces. Taking media archaeology to the city’s streets, Code and Clay, Data and Dirt reveals new ways to write our urban, media, and cultural histories.

About the Author

Shannon Mattern is associate professor in the School of Media Studies at The New School in New York. She is author of The New Downtown Library: Designing with Communities and Deep Mapping the Media City, both from Minnesota.