Strange zones: Science fiction, fantasy and the posthuman city

Article

Shaw, D. 2013. Strange zones: Science fiction, fantasy and the posthuman city. City. 17 (6), pp. 778-791.
AuthorsShaw, D.
Abstract

Science fiction has long been concerned with imagining cities of the future but
contemporary 'posturban' cities are 'strange zones' where the future has already
happened. How we live in these spaces is a challenge to accepted ideas about
what it means to be human and, indeed, what it means to have a future. How
then can critical urban theory engage with the new definitions of 'life' emerging
from the biological sciences and their effects in urban space? Drawing on
theories of posthumanism, this paper explores the contemporary city through a
reading of China Miéville's fantasy novel Perdido Street Station which explores
the imaginative potential of monsters and magic for developing new and
resistant metropolitan mythologies.

JournalCity
Journal citation17 (6), pp. 778-791
ISSN1470-3629
1360-4813
Year2013
PublisherTaylor & Francis
Accepted author manuscript
License
CC BY-NC-ND
Web address (URL)http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2013.849132
Publication dates
Print11 Dec 2013
Publication process dates
Deposited14 Jan 2014
Copyright informationThis is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in City, 17(6) [copyright Taylor & Francis], available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13604813.2013.849132
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