Making European Space explores how future visions of Europes physical space are being decisively shaped by transnational politics and power struggles; which are being played out in new multi-level arenas of governance across the European Union. At stake are big ideas about mobility and friction; about relations between core and peripheral regions; and about the future Europes cities and countryside. The book builds a critical narrative of the emergence of a new discourse of Europe as monotopia; revealing a very real project to shape European space in line with visions of high speed; frictionless mobility; the transgression of borders; and the creation of city networks. The narrative explores in depth how the particular ideas of mobility and space which underpin this discourse are being constructed in policy making; and reflects on the legitimacy of these policy processes. In particular; it shows how spatial ideas are becoming embedded in the everyday practices of the social and political organisation of space; in ways that make a frictionless Europe seem natural; and part of a common European territorial identity.
#4494331 in eBooks 2004-08-02 2004-08-02File Name: B000OT811W
Review
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful. Musical Courage in Diminished TimesBy Kevin LynchBY KEVIN LYNCH Ornette Coleman once called his music "The Shape of Jazz to Come. " Mandel calls it "Jazz beyond Jazz;" music from a land where individuals chase their dreams and destiny; one reason why it begat an art form expressing that freedom.And yet one of them; Cecil Taylor; says "there is no such thing as freedom; only preparation." He invokes an American boy scout motto! So in Mandels excellent book we see three artists prepare for lifes possibilities in his special way. Mandel; a superb writer and the President of the Jazz Journalist Association; explains these men as what critic Albert Murray called "Omni-Americans;" who "want to claim and/or partake of everything available and relevant to their present nationality; more than their racial and ethnic ancestry." This aesthetic embraces an omnivorously eloquent Americanness. Mandel quotes Gerald Early: Miles was "enormously inventive; snappishly opportunistic and yet surprisingly principled in the simple act of making a living in a dying art; that is dying as an art form with a large audience."Miles limpid trumpet could melt your heart with future dreams which arguably arrive with "Bitches Brew;" the surreal studio pastiche of sinuous polyrhythms which used "a street-savvy; pan global and well-capitalized slanguage; right for the present and maybe the future... What was always compelling was his personal line; variously wary; bold; romantic; wry; base and candid."Pulitzer Prize winning Ornette Colemans intellectual quirkiness and integrity radiate the dancing cubism of his "harmolodic" concept of equalizing melody; rhythm and harmony. You hear the three elements intrinsic qualities deftly balanced in his incomparably mournful "Lonely Woman;" the rambunctious "Ramblin" or the hair-raising beauty of the song "What Reason Could I Give?"Cecil Taylor invokes European sources; poetry and dance in music of rare harmonic density; evident in his piano ballads and darkly lyrical large group works. Though conservatory trained; he plays the piano like "88 tunes drums;" as one critic resonantly wrote; with an elemental; primeival strength.In 1977 his cougar like dynamism produced the greatest live musical performance I have ever witnessed - two three-hour solo piano concerts in one day. "Jazz beyond jazz" can speak to non-musicians whom; Cecil notes; grasp "a fullness of the dynamics" of sound structures that always appealed and enchanted" because it was arrived at through (the listeners) love" and "insight that could not be denied."Taylor sees himself as part of a musical continuum that includes Stevie Wonder; Aretha Franklin; James Brown and Marvin Gaye. Despite his musics tempestuous complexities the man possesses a warmth and humanity that I have sensed when I interviewed him in 1986 for Down Beat magazine. Such creative music gradually mutes lifes contradictions and cruelty. As Mandel writes; "little if anything of lasting value comes from half-heartedness; hypocrisy or genuine cynicism about ones own work." This truth applies to every persons life. Mandel ends by noting how; in the climax of a 2006 concert; Taylor quoted from the joyous fifth movement of Olivier Messiaens "Turangalila Symphonie." The works Sanskrit title means "a love song; hymn to joy; time; movement; rhythm; life and death."We sense how fearless creativity echoes and feeds from that continuum of human elements. Therein lie the wellsprings of hope even in these diminished times.0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Great bookBy Richard BearThis book is well written and researched. It is worth reading by anyone that is interested in the "new music". Excellent descriptions of recordings and artists.8 of 9 people found the following review helpful. A deeply humane book about the most human of musicBy D. HortonThis is one of the most perceptive; thought provoking and humane books I have ever read about the music I love. The section on Ornette Coleman was particularly rewarding and articulated the relationship between Ornettes verbal and musical language in a way that gave me new insights into his harmolodic theory as a means of thinking about life and human existence as much as (maybe more than) a way of thinking about sound and music. Ornettes music encapsulates everything that it is to be human; and Howard Mandels book elucidated these connections in a most intellectually elegant way. (And the sections on Miles and Cecil are highly enlightening too; of course.)