Book review: the Olympic Games and the architecture of extreme capitalism: remaining sceptical about the ‘urban renaissance’

The privatisation of our cities has gone too far, argues Anna Minton in this passionate and convincing tale of the brutal links between regeneration, capitalism and unhappiness. Fran Tonkiss finds Minton’s analysis of the real legacy of the Olympic Games compelling, with important warnings on inequality and police states. Ground Control: Fear and happiness in the twenty-first-century city. Anna Minton. Penguin. January 2012. 288 pages.