«As a trained architectural historian, Bowie is absolutely on top of her game in bringing the post-war architectural debates to life; moreover, through the integration of critical theory, artistic and cultural practice, emotion and urban theories, the book is an interdisciplinary joy for readers. Using Action 507 and the Diagnose exhibition as a structural hinge to delve into a myriad of themes proves an ingenious approach to understanding the challenges and societal shifts around the 1968 student movement through its urban entanglement. [ ] Bowies book is a remarkable achievement, a thorough, unique and most timely intervention and interdisciplinary contribution to urban humanities research. Anyone with an interest in Berlin, architecture, political activism, and cultural and urban studies should consider this book highly recommended!» Stephan Ehrig, Monatshefte 116:1 (2024)
«The history of the 1968 movement is well-trodden territory, and finding a novel view is an ambitious task. One of the strengths of Bowies monograph is its new, albeit niche, perspective on the 1968 movement by using local debates in West Berlin over architecture, construction, and housing to illustrate residents concerns about authoritarianism. At the same time, the book does not always connect West Berlin to global discussions. Rather, the book shines when it emphasizes the micropolitical. It illuminates how social problems in areas such as the Märkisches Viertel developed and how Aktion 507 sought to ameliorate these social ills. From this angle, Bowies monograph offers a significant contribution to the field that will please scholars interested in the history of West Berlin.» Alexandria N. Ruble, German Studies Review 46:3 (October 2023)
What would it have been like to live in the island of West Berlin during the 1960s? What impact did the experience of the post-war context have on the global student movement in the city? By reconstructing the cultural atmosphere of the time and considering the site of West Berlin not only as a city, but also as a home, this book seeks to understand how the world was viewed by the protesting students, how the urban space they were living in influenced their political viewpoint, and how the cultural outputs of the generation created a uniquely symbiotic relationship with the world. This book paints a picture of the transfer of ideas between a variety of intellectual and cultural sources by combining theories that influenced the students perception of the world with the events centred around the key year of 1968. The intention is to come to an understanding of how the experience of living in West Berlin combined with architecture, and the arts more generally, to form the critique of urban planning and, by extension, society as a whole.
