All Over the Map: Writing on Buildings and Cities

by Michael Sorkin

Robert Hughes once described Michael Sorkin as “unique in America––brave, principled, highly informed and fiercely funny.” All Over the Map confirms all of these superlatives as Sorkin assaults “the national security city, with its architecture of manufactured fear.”

Genres: Architecture, Urbanism, Nonfiction, Urban Studies, Urban, Geography, Cities

418 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 25, 2011

About the author

Michael Sorkin (1948, Washington, D.C.- March 2020, New York) was an American architectural critic and author of several hundred articles in a wide range of both professional and general publications. He was the Principal of Michael Sorkin Studio in New York City, a design practice devoted to both practical and theoretical projects at all scales, with special interest in sustainable urban environments/green city architecture. He was also Chair of the Institute for Urban Design, a non-profit organization that provides a forum for debate over critical issues in contemporary urban planning, development and design.

From 1993 to 2000 he was Professor of Urbanism and Director of the Institute of Urbanism at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. He has been a professor at numerous schools of architecture including the Architectural Association, the Aarhus School of Architecture, Cooper Union, Carleton, Columbia, Yale (holding both the Davenport and Bishop Chairs), Harvard and Cornell (the Gensler Chair). He is currently Distinguished Professor of Architecture and Director of the Graduate Program in Urban Design at the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture, City College of New York.

Dedicated to urbanism as both an artistic practice and a medium for social amelioration, Sorkin has conducted studios in such stressed environments as Jerusalem, Nicosia, Johannesburg, Havana, Cairo, Kumasi, Hanoi, Nueva Loja (Ecuador) and Wuhan (China). In 2005 -2006, he directed studio projects for the post-Katrina reconstruction of Biloxi and New Orleans.

Reviews

[julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

a decade's worth of essays on architecture, largely focused on new york and the aftermath of 9/11. at times, sorkin sounds like a disappointed, petulant child for being on the sidelines of the rebuilding plans on the site of ground zero, but largely, he is a well-considered, erudite critic of not only the current state of architecture and urban planning, but historically informed as well. i'd have given it a 4, but i'm a little shocked by the amount of typos Verso allowed to slip into this book, it really seems unlike them. probably not fair to mr. sorkin, but there you have it.

there was a brilliant description of a facilitator at a ground zero decision-making meeting as someone who was a cross between oprah and kim jung il that really made me laugh.

"The lesson we have been unable to learn is that it takes a lot more rebellion than we have been able to muster to remain faithful to the heritage of the avant-garde."

"Narcissism is not the same as self-confidence."

[Christi]

A wonderfully thought-provoking collection of essays. Sorkin weaves philosophy, social theory, and environmental science (among other disciplines) with architecture in order to discuss the moral, political, and practical concerns of making buildings and designing cities. Most of the essays first appeared in architectural journals, so I was unfamiliar with many of the names and concepts that Sorkin seems to assume his reader will recognize; however, I learned much by looking up those things and went on a lot of happy reading tangents. The writing is dense enough to require one's full attention, so don't expect to do much skimming.

[Mattie · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I could I'd give this a solid 3.5. His set of essays on architecture & planning are articulate and opinionated. There are number of essays on the Ground Zero 9/11 memorial project, which provide insight into the role of architecture as public discourse, but also into how politics and atmospherics shape the public space. Interesting if you like architecture and public policy.

[Nico Beukema · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ooit stond ik voor de deur van Micheal Sorkin op Waverley place in New York. Geheel toevallig stond het hotel in dezelfde straat. In het boek Twenty minutes in Manhattan had hij zijn adres gegeven.
In All over de map zijn columns en artikelen samengebracht uit de periode 2001 tot 2009. Sommigen heel interesant, sommigen grappig vanwege het tijdsbeeld en sommigen verjaard of te specialistisch. Heerlijk om ook weer veel over Jane Jacobs te lezen en haar werk in een groter perspectief geplaatst te zien worden.
Maar het boek is ook zonder Jane zeker inspirerend. Jammer om te vernemen dat Sorkin in 2020 slachtoffer is geworden van de Covid-19 pandemie.

[Rage · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. there are some very good ideas in here but I felt like they were buried under the inaccessible language and jargon used; definitely something that would be more rewarding for a person who's already done some reading on the subject. Also, the way he writes tends to rub me in a faintly patronising, white liberal kind of way.

[Kaleb Wulf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of my favorite essays:
(S)Truth and Consequences
Advice to Critics
Gulf States
Trumped Again
The End(s) of Urban Design
Learning from the Hutong of Beijing and the Lilong of Shanghai
Eutopia Now!

[Judi Fruen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit dense for me, and full of (presumeably) architectural terms and dense metaphors. The bits I understood were interesting.

[Conor Flynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some solid essay, but much of the work is on eased with the 9/11 memorial and is only of historical interest. Some Assembly Required is a better essay collection.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

I admire Michael Sorkin as an important and clever voice in architectural criticism. However, this book reads in much the same way as he speaks; wildly discursive with references so recondite as to be lost on most readers, if not otherwise unintelligible. Is it a fad to be so heavily stylized in contemporary architectural criticism? It seems to me that the substance of many essays was insufficient, or occasionally eclipsed by poor writing. I wish this were not the case because I believe that Sorkin has a fine eye for identifying problems. My contention is his composition.

This book is in desperate need of an editor. Even anthologies of essays over the years, such as this one, can have a unifying coherence. But I found this book lacking such coherence.

Sorkin‘s is an important voice. It is disappointing that so much of his writing in this anthology fails to render him in similar light.

[Jeramey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of essays. Some good, some not so good. It's probably far more interesting if you're from NYC or actually working in the architecture field.

Sorkin's writing style got in the way of my understanding at various points. I can't explain why. Was it word choice? Sentence structure? Long paragraphs? All I know is that at times it became hard to discern his point.

[Annette]

Very mixed bag with unfortunate Maureen Dowd-ish stylistic elements.

[Jon Beuttler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was surprised by the amount of essays that were about post 9/11. Sorkin is hard to follow sometimes. I enjoyed the unapolegetic essays as to why plans change.