USE Uncertain States of Europe

The uncertain state of Europe is the primary concern of Multiplicity: a multidisciplinary group of Europeans architects, photographers, urban developers and artists who met to explore and develop a series of studies focusing on contemporary European cities and their ongoing changes.The group uses on-site investigations, documented with beautiful photographs by Francesco Jodice and Gabriele Basilico, to illustrate the radical and dramatic changes occurring on European land and in its cities. Traditional spaces are slowly, yet forcefully, transforming due to the constant economic, political, and social upheavals and alterations.With an introduction by prominent political and intellectual figures such as Etienne Balibar, Rem Koolhas and Jeremy Rifkin, this unique volume analyses 24 cases of urban transformation. The cases cover geographical locations from Paris to Pristina, Helsinki to Bucharest, and show the extraordinary riches a modern city can offer while, at the same time, highlighting the abnormal spaces created by the existence of a so-called secondary world. The final section is dedicated to a series of ideas which view Europe as a single entity: a network of relations, trade, encounters, migration, transportation, construction, and offers an absolutely novel view of the ‘old’ world. Richly illustrated, this erudite tome includes passages by major architectural critics such as Stefano Boeri, Yorgos Semiforidis, Eduard Bru, Bart Lootsma and Mirko Zardini. The catalogue is available at the Skira bookstore on Via Torino in Milan and at all Italian bookstores from May 28, 2003.