The shortage of affordable housing in cities is one of the most significant global challenges. It affects 1.6 billion people ( one- third of urban population) and is a key priority for policy change identified by the United Nations in the New Urban Agenda ( Tsenkova, 2016). Globally, cities and central governments have championed housing strategies and action plans, with a strong…
In Sacred Music in Secular Society, Jonathan Arnold highlights a strange phenomenon: ‘the seeming paradox that, in today’s so-called secular society, sacred choral music is as powerful, compelling and popular as it has ever been’.1 The explosion of new media through the internet and digital technology has created a new, broader audience for ‘the creative art of Renaissance polyphony …
Humans are a walking species. We tread on the surface of the Earth. Without this primary mobility we would not be here and even when other means of getting around have become accessible, we don’t cease to walk. Our walking leaves traces. This is inevitable. No culture or civilisation or society can escape from this primordial mark-making. Some of these traces cluster and congregate into patte…
How do various forms of comedy – including stand up, satire and film and television – transform contemporary invocations of nationalism and citizenship in youth cultures? And how are attitudes about gender, race and sexuality transformed through comedic performances on social media? The Cultural Set Up of Comedy seeks to answer these questions by examining comedic performances by Chris Rock…
For scholars of the Arab world, the state remains an elusive, unsettled, and unsettling presence. Since mandatory and then independent states emerged in the Arab world in the aftermath of World War I, theorizing the Arab state has been a central preoccupation for generations of regional specialists. The gravitational pull of the state is not surprising. As a pr…
Traditional Scandinavian and Icelandic designs are given new life in the projects found in Nordic Knitting Traditions. 25 projects feature original floral, star, feather and geometric motifs, all knit in fresh and modern colors. With a diverse collection of hats, tams, mittens, gloves, socks, knee-highs and legwarmers, you'll find plenty of jaw-dropping, colorful accessories to knit for yoursel…
Early fifteenth-century travellers such as Spanish writer Pero Tafur praised the city of Bruges because of its liveliness and economic activity: ‘Bruges was a large and wealthy city, and one of the greatest markets of the world [...] anyone who has mon-ey, and wished to spend it, will find in this town alone everything which the world produces’.1 Bruges had played an important…
Issues arising from overtourism in many of the world’s major cities call into question the adage “bigger is better,” as do touristic desires for au-thentic, human-scale immersion in local life, culture, and knowledge. Overtourism accounts for many headlines, and some of these posit an alternate travel experience—for example, Elaine Glusac’s …
The business of journalism has an extensive, storied, and often romanticized history. Newspaper reporting has long shaped the way that we see the world, played key roles in exposing scandals, and has even been alleged to influence international policy. The past several years have seen the newspaper industry in a state of crisis, with Twitter and Facebook ushering in the rise of citizen journali…
The destruction of ancient monuments and artworks by the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has shocked observers worldwide. Yet iconoclastic erasures of the past date back at least to the mid-1300s BCE, during the Amarna Period of ancient Egypt's 18th dynasty. Far more damage to the past has been inflicted by natural disasters, looters, and public works. Art hist…