Dr Günter Gassner

Overview

I am a Lecturer in Urban Design interested in a critical exploration of cities, space and architecture. My research explores spatial practices in relation to social theory and political philosophy. I focus on relationships between politics and aesthetics, history and power, and urban visions and visualisations.

I am currently setting up a project that looks at fascism in/through urbanism. What does 'city making' mean and imply at a time when the extreme right is on the rise and the populist far right is becoming increasingly mainstream? In what ways are revolutionary claims and promises of a 'new beginning' fundamentally conservative in that they do not intervene in existing power relations and are based on pre-defined norms and standards, resting on hierarchy, discrimination and exclusion? Theoretical starting points include Benjamin's aestheticisation of politics thesis and Deleuze and Guattari's account of microfascism.

In my recently published research monograph Ruined Skylines: Aesthetics, Politics and London's Towering Cityscape (Routledge, 2020) I examine the urban skyline as a space for radical politics. Developing a critique of the construction of more and more speculative towers as well as a critique of the claim that these towers ruin the historic cityscape, I explore ruination as a political appropriation of the commodified and financialised cityscape, making a case for reanimating urban politics as an art of the possible.

I joined the School of Geography and Planning in September 2016 and previously taught at the University of the Arts London, Central Saint Martins and in the Sociology Department at the London School of Economics (LSE). I obtained a PhD from the LSE on the topic of Formalised Vision in the City and hold a Master in Architecture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. I practiced as an architect in Vienna, Barcelona and in London for Foreign Office Architects (FOA) where I was project architect and leader of the office-internal high-rise unit. I also worked on a comparative analysis of public spaces in London, Paris and Barcelona.