Book review: demolish or dare to dream: rethinking the value of architecture in our cities

Karl Baker considers this unique book on contemporary issues in architecture and urbanism, centring on The Corviale Void project: a one kilometre long strip of urban space, immured in the notorious Corviale housing development in southwest Rome. Author Victoria Watson opens questions about the role of the aesthetic and the monumental in the city, challenging materialist and economically rationalist ideas of city making. Utopian Adventure: The Corviale Void. Victoria Watson. Ashgate. January 2012. 117 pages.