Nincompoopolis: The Follies of Boris Johnson

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

In a world where the built environment seems ever more shaped by invisible market forces, where modern architecture can seem to dissolve into a generic void, sometimes it takes a very special person to make a difference.

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson was Mayor of London from 2008 until 2016, during which time he took a remarkably keen interest in the built environment, commissioning, guiding, and shaping all manner of different projects. With his achievements he showed us all that massive privilege, leaping ambition, no concern for detail and a wasps attention span neednt hold you back when it comes to creating terrible architecture.

Nincompoopolis examines the built legacy of Johnsons tenure, from his embarrassing follies to the folly of his policies, and wonders if theres anything that can be learned from letting someone like him have a go at one the worlds great cities.

Author Bio

Douglas Murphy is a writer and architect based in London. He is the author of the books Last Futures (Verso, 2016), a cultural history of the radical architecture of the 1960s and 1970s, and The Architecture of Failure (Zero, 2012), which told the story of 19th century iron and glass architecture and its long influence on modernist culture. He studied at the Glasgow School of Art and the Royal College of Art, and is currently Architecture Correspondent at Icon magazine. He writes for a wide range of publications on architecture, fine art and photography, and lectures widely.