In Dubai, a luxury residential building is built in the shape of a giant iPod. In Beijing, Herzog and de Meuron are building the Bird's Nest Stadium. In Cincinnati, Zaha Hadid is being paid millions to design an “iconic” building in the hopes that she will single-handedly change the fortunes of an entire region. “Starchitects” compete to design increasingly monumental, spectacular and extravagant buildings that radically transform the surrounding landscape: the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao by Frank Gehry, “The Gherkin” by Norman Foster, the Jewish Museum by Daniel Libeskind in Berlin... Over the past fifty years, changes have occurred in the life of our cities true revolution. Tom Dyckhoff (b. 1971), a British critic of architecture and urbanism, recounts its progress and results with knowledge, breadth and humor. Exploring urban landscapes from New York to Beijing, Bilbao to Astana, he shows that we are not just witnessing the emergence of a new type of building: we are living through a period of fundamental transformation in the way modern spaces work in entrepreneurial cities. In a4 format. pdf publishing layout saved.