Justin McGuirk
Selected writing 2005 – 2015
  • About
  • Category
  • Title
  • Publication
  • Year
  • Cities
  • Edge City (São Paulo)
  • Strelka Press
  • 2012
Justin McGuirk
Selected writing 2005 – 2015
  • Edge City (São Paulo)

I’ve been meaning to say something here about a piece of writing I’ve just published. It’s a piece of long-form journalism about São Paulo, and one of a new series of ebooks recently released by Strelka Press. I should confess that I’m also the editor behind Strelka Press, so this was partly a case of my wanting to live this experiment to the fullest, as both author and publisher.

It began with a drive. A couple of friends and I set out one day to drive the circumference of São Paulo. We thought we would make a film about it, and in fact the photographer Thelma Vilas Boas – one of my companions that day – shot some beautiful footage. But we never made that film (largely because Thelma and I live on different continents), so instead it became a piece of writing.

Edge City is part road trip and part urban critique. It explores the edge condition of South America’s largest metropolis, trying to understand how it came to be the way that it is. Focusing on the different kinds of housing that make up the sprawling periphery, from favelas to modernist social housing to gated communities, it takes a snapshot of a landscape that is the product of failed politics.

The essay delves into the history and politics of the city, but it is also very much a work of observation. Along the way it takes in evangelical churches and love motels, advertising and graffiti, factory villages and reservoirs. There are encounters with people who made their homes here, often against the odds. And most of all, like an experiment in mapping by writing, there is mile after mile of road.

You can buy a copy from Amazon here or from iTunes here – it’s only £2.50 after all.

Justin McGuirk
Selected writing 2005 – 2015
  • Category
  • Title
  • Publication
  • Year
  • Architecture Activist architects Al Jazeera 2014
  • Architecture Djenné’s mud mosque Icon 2010
  • Architecture Honeywell, I’m home! e-flux journal 2015
  • Architecture Maison Dom-ino Dezeen 2014
  • Architecture PREVI, Lima Domus 2011
  • Architecture Revolutionary housing in Argentina Domus 2011
  • Architecture Robin Hood Gardens SQM 2014
  • Architecture The Base, Chocó Nuevotopias 2013
  • Architecture The High Line Icon 2009
  • Architecture Walter Benjamin puts activists to shame? Here 2013
  • Cities Beirut Icon 2006
  • Cities DIY cities (the limitations) Uncube 2014
  • Cities Edge City (São Paulo) Strelka Press 2012
  • Cities How radical is Radical Urbanism? Catalogue 2015
  • Cities Istanbul Icon 2010
  • Cities Jenin Icon 2005
  • Cities Life on the edge Moscow Urban Forum 2013
  • Cities Seoul Condé Nast Traveller 2012
  • Cities Shenzhen Icon 2008
  • Cities Unreal estate (London) Domus 2012
  • Cities Urban commons The Guardian 2015
  • Design Adventure gear The Guardian 2010
  • Design Beneath the street, the wilderness: Occupy and Bear Grylls Here 2012
  • Design Craft fetishism The Guardian 2011
  • Design Craft fetishism: From objects to things Disegno 2012
  • Design Design and the Right Domus 2013
  • Design Design and violence Dezeen 2013
  • Design Dreaming of year zero Bio 50 2014
  • Design Fabbers, dabblers and microstars Icon 2009
  • Design London riots The Guardian 2011
  • Design Luxury watch culture The Guardian 2010
  • Design Milan’s PR economy The Guardian 2011
  • Design On William Gibson on design Dezeen 2014
  • Design Open design Dezeen 2014
  • Design Samsung vs Apple Domus 2013
  • Design The internet of broken things Dezeen 2014
  • Design The post-spectacular economy Van Abbemuseum 2011
  • Design Ultramundane Domus 2013
  • People Alejandro Aravena Icon 2009
  • People Do Ho Suh Icon 2008
  • People Enzo Mari Icon 2009
  • People Ettore Sottsass Icon 2007
  • People Francis Kere Icon 2010
  • People Richard Sapper Domus 2013
  • Reviews Cool Tools by Kevin Kelly Dezeen 2014
  • Reviews Hearts of the City by Herbert Muschamp Icon 2010
  • Reviews Latin America in Construction at MoMA Architectural Record 2015
  • Reviews Mad Max: Fury Road Dezeen 2015
  • Reviews Max Bill Icon 2010
  • Reviews Philips shaver Icon 2008
  • Reviews Postmodernism at the V&A The Guardian 2010
  • Reviews Rebel Cities by David Harvey Art Review 2012
  • Reviews The Craftsman by Richard Sennett Icon 2008
  • Reviews The Historical Museum, Sarajevo The Guardian 2011
  • Reviews Together by Richard Sennett Art Review 2012
Justin McGuirk
Selected writing 2005 – 2015
  • Cities
  • Edge City (São Paulo)
  • Strelka Press
  • 2012
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I’ve been meaning to say something here about a piece of writing I’ve just published. It’s a piece of long-form journalism about São Paulo, and one of a new series of ebooks recently released by Strelka Press. I should confess that I’m also the editor behind Strelka Press, so this was partly a case of my wanting to live this experiment to the fullest, as both author and publisher.

It began with a drive. A couple of friends and I set out one day to drive the circumference of São Paulo. We thought we would make a film about it, and in fact the photographer Thelma Vilas Boas – one of my companions that day – shot some beautiful footage. But we never made that film (largely because Thelma and I live on different continents), so instead it became a piece of writing.

Edge City is part road trip and part urban critique. It explores the edge condition of South America’s largest metropolis, trying to understand how it came to be the way that it is. Focusing on the different kinds of housing that make up the sprawling periphery, from favelas to modernist social housing to gated communities, it takes a snapshot of a landscape that is the product of failed politics.

The essay delves into the history and politics of the city, but it is also very much a work of observation. Along the way it takes in evangelical churches and love motels, advertising and graffiti, factory villages and reservoirs. There are encounters with people who made their homes here, often against the odds. And most of all, like an experiment in mapping by writing, there is mile after mile of road.

You can buy a copy from Amazon here or from iTunes here – it’s only £2.50 after all.

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