Territory

Synopsis

A critique of Oscar Newman’s book ‘Defensible Space’. It takes a satirical look at the five main codes of knowledge that underpin the notion of ‘defensible space’: animal behaviour, social psychology, sociology, architecture and law. Examines Newman’s way of weaving together these five codes to produce a coherent narrative, a ‘truth’. The film presents fragments of discourses that are excluded from Newman’s text - questions of economic and political relations, history, causality and the material production of texts.

Series

Built Form and Society, Series

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Medium

Film; Video; Film. 16mm. sd. col. 31 min. Videocassette. VHS. col. 31 min.

Technical information

Black-and-white / Sound

Year of production

1977

Availability

Out of Distribution

Documentation

Accompanying teaching notes include an account of the film’s main arguments and a bibliography.

Uses

Students of architecture and planning, urban studies, social & human geography, urban sociology.

Subjects

Architecture; Geography; Sociology

Keywords

environment; Newman, Oscar; space phenomena

Credits

Writer

Gillian Skirrow; Stephen Sharples

Cast

C Stafford
Stephen Sharples

Distribution Formats

Type

Film

Format

16mm

Production Company

Name

University of Strathclyde Audio Visual Media Services

Sponsor

Name

University of Strathclyde, Centre for Educational Practice

Name

University of Strathclyde, Department of Architecture

Distributor

Name

CFL Vision

Email

euroview@compuserve.com

Web

http://www.euroview.co.uk External site opens in new window

Phone

01937 541010

Fax

01937 541083

Address

PO Box 35
Wetherby LS23 7EX