Richard J. Williams was born in Washington DC in 1967, but grew up in Manchester, UK. Mr. Williams has lived in London, Oxford, Madrid, and Edinburgh.
Since 2000 he has been the Head of History of Art, and Professor of Contemporary Visual Cultures at Edinburgh College of Art. His teaching and research explores the visualisation of the city, through case studies in the USA, Brazil, and the UK.
The book “Why Cities Look the Way They Do” is the story of dramatic but unforeseen urban sights: how financial capital spawns empty towering skyscrapers and hollowed-out ghettoes; how the zoning of once-illicit sexual practices in marginal areas of the city results in the reinvention of culturally vibrant gay villages; how abandoned factories have been repurposed as creative hubs in a precarious postindustrial economy. It’s also the story of how popular urban clichés and the fictional portrayal of cities powerfully shape the way we read and see the bricks, concrete and glass that surround us.
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The book “Why Cities Look The Way They Do” is available at Bookstores and Amazon.