To the Ends of the Earth: A Grand Tour for the 21st Century

by Richard Weller

Overview

The book takes the reader on an intellectual adventure through a carefully curated selection of 120 places that can be understood as metaphors of contemporary global culture. Spread across all seven continents, from the depths of the ocean to outer space, these places are divided into six chapters: Paradises, Utopias, Machines, Monsters, Ruins, and Instruments.

The spectrum ranges from Steve Jobs' Apple Park in California to a national park in Costa Rica, a small field station for the protection of wild orangutans in Borneo, the Great Green Wall in Central Africa, the Trump resort Mar-a-Lago, to the border wall between Israel and Palestine. This book is a grand tour of the most pertinent places in the world today.

A unique and fascinating journey around the world of today

Featuring custom-made maps created especially for this publication

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783035627930
Publisher:	Birkhäuser
Publication date:	02/23/2024
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 7.48(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Richard Weller, Professor für Landschaftsarchitektur und Urbanismus an der University of Pennsylvania

Richard Weller is professor and former chair of landscape architecture and urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania, where he (together with Fritz Steiner) established the Ian L. McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology. He is co-founder (with Tatum Hands) and former creative director of LA+ Interdisciplinary Journal of Landscape Architecture, founding director (with Vladimir Sitta) of Australian design firm Room 4.1.3., and holds adjunct professorships at the University of Western Australia and the University of New South Wales. His work has been frequently awarded in international design competitions and exhibited internationally, including at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Venice and Rotterdam Biennales, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, the MAXXI Gallery in Rome, the Canadian Design Museum in Toronto, and the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. His publications include Room 4.1.3: Innovations in Landscape Architecture (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005), Boomtown 2050: Scenarios for a Rapidly Growing City (University of Western Australia Press, 2009), Made in Australia: The Future of Australian Cities (UWAP, 2013), Transects (ORO Editions, 2014), Design with Nature Now (Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 2019), Beautiful China: Reflections on Landscape Architecture in Contemporary China (ORO Editions, 2020), The Landscape Project (AR+D Publishing, 2022), and An Art of Instrumentality (ORO Editions, 2023). ‘The Atlas for the End of the World,’ Weller’s recent research work on biodiversity and cities, has been published in National Geographic and Scientific American, while his related research and design project to establish a ‘World Park’ is currently being considered for implementation by UNESCO.

Editorial Reviews

Not just a book for cultural anthropologists and urban educators, To the Ends of the Earth is a clarion call to all environmentally conscientious citizens of our planet, with several sublime moments of ongoing habitat restoration and climate justice [...]. Part instruction manual for saving our planet, part guidebook for the new Grand Tourist, this book takes us on a journey not to be missed!” (Sean Ruten in Spacing)

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“Pretty much everyone [...] will discover something new – and, more importantly, be inspired to think something new.” (Elizabeth Farrelly in Landscape Australia)

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“The book is a curated journey to explore the world and the impact of people through its places, objects, and ideas in a well-published, hardcover book” (Damian Holmes in World Landscape Architecture)

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Interview with Richard Weller in A is for Architecture

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„[…] das Buch nutzt den maximal möglichen Betrachtungswinkel für einen faktengewaltigen Appell. Wie genau dieser lautet, muss man allerdings selbst herausfinden.“ (Friederike Meyer in BauNetz)

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„Weller gelingt es, wortstark die Welt als Ganzes zu betrachten und den Blick zu weiten. Auch wenn die Auswahl der Orte subjektiv erscheint, konfrontieren sie uns mit dem Zustand des Planeten im Kontext der Klimakatastrophe und animiert die Leser:innen, eigene Monster und Paradiese zu entdecken.“ (Natalie Scholder in DBZ)

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„Noch kein Ziel für die nächste Bildungsreise? Flugscham? Oder schon überall gewesen? Die allerletzte große Tour führt zu den Ruinen von morgen.“ (Marcus Woeller in Welt am Sonntag)

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„[…] eine anregende Lektüre […], um das Wirken des Menschen auf dem Weg zum Ende der Erde zu reflektieren.“ (Christian Holl in Marlowes,)

From the Publisher

"Is this book a grand tour guide for you to determine and plan your next “grand tour”? In some ways, yes, but the book is a curated journey to explore the world and the impact of people through its places, objects, and ideas in a well-published, hardcover book. If you are a student or design professional, this book allows you to take an intellectual grand 21st-century tour without leaving your city."  (World Landscape Architecture, by Damian Holmes, February 2024)

World Landscape Architecture - Damian Holmes