Ben Campkin, Director of UCL Urban Laboratory, has received the 2015 Jane Jacobs Urban Communication Foundation Book Award for his book Remaking London: Decline and Regeneration in Urban Culture.
Remaking London (I.B Tauris, 2013) provides a historical account of urban regeneration, exploring how decline and renewal have been imagined and realised at different scales. Focusing on present-day regeneration areas that have been key to the capital's modern identity, the book explores how these places have been stigmatised through identification with material degradation, and spatial and social disorder.
Presented by the Urban Communication Foundation, the Jane Jacobs Urban Communication Book Award recognises excellence in addressing issues of urban communication and is named in honour of the late social activist and author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities.
The jury described Remaking London as "[A] methodologically sophisticated inquiry into the drive to 'regenerate' areas of London seen as blighted or in decline. Surveying a diverse collection of texts ranging from individual buildings and temporary theater installations to photojournalistic essays and films, Campkin’s analysis of the cultural discourse surrounding urban decline and regeneration in the UK’s largest city is innovative, eye-opening and engaging. Given the intense debates occurring over the many regeneration schemes currently underway in the city, it is also extremely timely."
The jury was made up of Professor Steve Macek (Professor of Communication at North Central College, and the winner of the 2006 Jane Jacobs award), Sommer Mathis (editor of The Atlantic’s CityLab website), and Theresa Bergman (Professor of Communication, University of the Pacific and the winner of the 2013 Jane Jacobs award).
The award was announced at the National Communication Association annual convention in Las Vegas, Nevada on 21 November.
Listen to Ben Campkin speak about regeneration and ‘imaginaries of decline’.
Further links