Matthew Gandy. The Fabric of Space: Water, Modernity, and the Urban Imagination.

Matthew Gandy is a geographer at University College London whose work focuses on cities, how they work, and how their workings are represented in art and literature. His first book, entitled Concrete and Clay (2002), about New York, won a prize. Since its appearance, he has published dozens of articles and several edited books, and his output has earned him election to the British Academy. This latest book concerns six big cities at various points in their recent history: Paris, Berlin, Lagos, Mumbai, Los Angeles, and London.