ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book uses the study of new tenement architecture as a way of exploring the condition of postmodernity in the urban environment. It explains the post-functionalist city that generated new buildings, which is very different from the industrial metropolis with its traditional tenements or the functionalist city with its towers in a park. The book introduces different typologies and stylistic expression of new tenement design. It explains the evolution of these buildings from several characteristics of the post-functionalist city that were famously popularised during the International Building Exhibit (IBA) in West Berlin in 1987. The book then focuses on the history of inner-city residences in Berlin, Copenhagen, Glasgow, Rotterdam, and Vienna. It deals with a peculiar side effect of the "return to the inner city": the construction of "urbanised suburbs". The book explores a new discourse on the positive qualities of urban life.
