Reason in the City of Difference

<p>In the modernist city rationality ruled and subsumed difference in a logic of identity. In the postmodern city reason is abandoned for an endless play of difference. <em>Reason in the City of Difference</em> poses an alternative to these extremes by drawing on classical American philosophical pragmatism (and its contemporary developments in feminism and the philosophy of communication) to explore the possibilities of a strengthening and deepening of reason in the contemporary city. This is a transactional rationality based on communication rather than cognition involving bodies as much as minds and non-discursive as well as discursive competences. It is a rationality that emerges out of difference and from within the city rather than over and above it.</p><p>Using pragmatist philosophy and a range of suggestive examples of urban scholarship this fascinating book offers a new alternative reading of the city.</p>