Global Cities starts with a momentous statistic, emblazoned across the bridge in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall. This year, it says, for the first time in history, more than half the world's population will live in cities. The exhibition is therefore about a subject - half the world - that is vast even for the vastness of the Turbine Hall. The designers, Pentagram, had to build an extra level to create a double-decker exhibition.
The Tate's version of Global Cities, which was first shown at last year's Venice Architecture Biennale, also commissioned architects to design responses to the issues on show, all of whom had the sense not to pretend that they could come up with a single overarching solution. One, Fritz Haeg, is content to persuade his fellow Los Angelenos to convert their sterile, water-guzzling front lawns into vegetable patches.
Another, Nigel Coates, responds with half-serious playfulness. His Mixtacity is a model of a delirious version of the Thames Gateway, where people fly in mescaline-fuelled helicopters between giant statues and warped towers. The real Thames Gateway is unlikely to be as exciting.
Global Cities is grand in conception and theme, but a possibly unintended message is that relative modesty often works best.
More images after the jump.
Links & Images: EastDay & This is London
Tags: Global | Cities
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