Even though small towns in Germany are currently growing in popularity, more people have never lived in megacities than they do today—that is, urban areas with more than 10 million residents. There are no more than three such cities in Europe: Istanbul, Moscow, and London. Of the 33 megacities worldwide listed in the UN World Urbanization Prospects 2025, more than half are located in Asia. It’s no wonder, then, that Philipp Sarasin included photographs of Asian cities such as Mumbai and Beijing in his urban observations, The Big City: A Visual Antholog, published by Scheidegger & Spiess.
Philipp Sarasin, The Big City. A Visual Anthology, 224 pages, Scheidegger & Spiess, Zurich 226 → oder now
Twenty Megacities
Sarasin is a historian and photographer; his book is the result of numerous trips through major cities. Over the course of 15 years, he visited more than twenty cities scattered across the globe. There are now many photo books about megacities, so what makes Sarasin’s photo book special?
Bangkog, © Philipp Sarasin
Poor and rich
“Cities are not idyllic,” the photographer writes in the foreword. “For all their power to draw us in, their sometimes startling beaty, and the distinctive character of their neighbourhoods, they can also be cold and hards, even brutal.” Sarasin’s photographs depict poverty and glittering skyscrapers, revealing the divide between rich and poor in people’s everyday lives. Anyone who takes the time to look more closely at the book will inevitably be drawn into a whirlwind of curiosity and a spirit of discovery by the diversity of the photos.
Chicago, © Philipp Sarasin
Beyond the usual icons
This beautiful, cloth-bound volume published by Scheidegger & Spiess brings together 120 photographs. It reveals social and economic upheavals. “Sarasin’s method of withholding judgment resembles that of the American architects Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour,” writes Martino Stierli in the foreword. Much like Denise Scott Brown, the Swiss historian does not document icons, but rather backyards and neon signs, postindustrial wastelands, and precarious dwellings. In doing so, he also follows a well-known American tradition.
Cairo, © Philipp Sarasin
Voyeurism or not?
“Is this perspective ultimately a voyeuristic one?” I asked myself as I read. It may be that, from the safety of Europe, we look with curiosity at the poverty and social misery on other continents—and that’s bad enough. Ultimately, however, Sarasin’s selection of subjects remains balanced. Deserted wastelands in Casablanca feature in his photo compendium just as much as shopping malls in Beijing or nighttime subway passages in Berlin. Not a single megacity, I immediately realize. Still, it’s good that the European perspective isn’t missing from this book—alongside Panama, Cairo, and Jakarta, of course. After all, we can never separate our own cities from the living conditions in emerging economies and the Global South. This perspective is more important today than ever.
Philipp Sarasin
The Big City. A Visual Anthology
224 pages, Hardcover
Scheidegger & Spiess, Zurich 226
ISBN 9783039423279
Bangkog, © Philipp Sarasin
