Gregorio Astengo and Davide Spina eds.,"Real Estate: Histories of Architecture and Capital" (gta Verlag, 2026)

Summary

Real Estate: Histories of Architecture and Capital (gta Verlag, 2026)challenges the conventional assumption that architects and planners are the principal authors of urban form. It instead foregrounds the developers, builders, financiers, and media strategists whose pursuit of profit has shaped cities, particularly under global capitalism. Bringing together studies spanning the eighteenth century to the present, the editors, Gregorio Astengo and Davide Spina, and the contributors establish real estate development as a significant field of inquiry within architectural history. It also proposes new methods and sources for understanding how speculation and market mechanisms have produced the built environment.

This interview was conducted by Matthew Wells, Senior Lecturer in Architectural History at the University of Manchester. He researches nineteenth-century European architecture, focusing on artistic techniques, technology, and political economy. Wells is the author of Modelling the Metropolis: The Architectural Model in Victorian London (gta Verlag, 2023).

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Matt Wells

Matthew Wells is Senior Lecturer in Architectural Studies at the University of Manchester. His research explores architecture and visual culture in the long nineteenth century, focusing on the intersections of artistic technique, technology, and political economy. Wells is the author of Modelling the Metropolis: The Architectural Model in Victorian London (Zurich, gta Verlag, 2023). He is currently writing a book titled 'Imperial Logistics', a history of Victorian architecture read through the global circulation of capital, people, animals, and commodities.
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