All across the world a uniform, homogeneous model of development, inspired by Los Angeles style urban sprawl – consisting of massive freeways, parking lots, shopping malls and large-scale masterplanned communities with golf courses – is being stamped onto the earth’s topography. With this anonymous type of development comes the destruction of the environment, and also a loss of culture and roots, as well as alienation. This globalized model of architecture does not respect or adapt itself to the natural or cultural environment onto which it is implanted. As we have seen in recent history, fervent overdevelopment has led to crises, not only financial, but also environmental and social, and some even say psychological.

German-American photographer Robert Harding Pittman began working on this project called "Anonymization – The global proliferation of urban sprawl" in Los Angeles ten years ago. Since then he has been traveling around the world photographing the spread of »L.A. style development« in Las Vegas, Spain, France, Germany, Greece, Dubai and South Korea. The world was in the midst of a construction boom when the project began. In the meantime most cranes have come to a screeching halt.

"These images – many of them haunting in an arid way – remind us by contrast of how much we long for real places, real texture, real homes, real communi- ties. In many cases they’re the face of the housing bust – but also some much deeper bust, in the way we’ve been thinking (or not) about the world."
Bill McKibben, author of "Eaarth"

Authors: Alison Nordström, Anette Baldauf, Bill McKibben, Galina Tachieva
Artists: Robert Harding Pittman

Hardcover
24 x 24 cm
120 pages
51 color ills.
English
available
ISBN
28 Euro
2012