Reclaiming Colonial Architecture maps the built inheritances of colonialism across multiple scales — from monuments and material culture to urban areas and entire landscapes — and sets out how architects, heritage practitioners, and communities are actively intervening in them today.
About This Book
The colonial past is not abstract history; it is embedded in the streets, buildings, and public spaces we inhabit. This volume, edited by Tania Sengupta and Stuart King, moves beyond theoretical debate to examine how the built environment professions are responding in practice. Grounded in thematically organised, multi-scalar case studies, it traces real-world actions by architects, heritage practitioners, and community activists confronting colonial landscapes and urban fabric. Accessible enough for undergraduates encountering postcolonial architectural theory for the first time, yet substantive enough to serve as a graduate research resource, it is a rare book that bridges critical heritage studies and architectural practice without sacrificing the complexity either discipline demands.
Key Features
- 224 pages of thematically organised case studies spanning urban, architectural, and material scales
- Edited by Tania Sengupta and Stuart King
- Case studies drawn from the work of architects, heritage practitioners, community initiatives, and activist groups
- Published by RIBA Publishing
What You'll Discover
- How colonial processes have deposited themselves into cities, buildings, monuments, and material culture — and how those deposits can be read, contested, and transformed
- The range of professional and community-led approaches to colonial built environments, from architectural intervention to heritage activism
- A conceptual framework for navigating the debates around decolonisation in spatial practice, presented with enough clarity to be genuinely useful in studio and research settings
- How multi-scalar thinking — from the object to the urban — opens new possibilities for practitioners grappling with colonial inheritance in the built environment
About the Author
Tania Sengupta is an architectural historian and editor whose work addresses colonial and postcolonial dimensions of the built environment. Stuart King is co-editor of the volume. [Details available upon request]
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Pages: 224
- Dimensions: 257 x 218 mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9781915722362
- Publisher: RIBA Publishing
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Architecture and heritage students encountering postcolonial theory for the first time, graduate researchers in critical heritage studies, and practitioners working with historically contested buildings, monuments, or urban precincts.