Nincompoopolis

The Follies of Boris Johnson

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Buy on Amazon Buy on BN.com Buy on Bookshop.org
*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app

1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date 19 Sep 2017 | Archive Date 30 Dec 2017

Description

In a world where the built environment seems ever more shaped by invisible market forces, where modern architecture can seem to dissolve into a generic void, sometimes it takes a very special person to make a difference. 

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson was Mayor of London from 2008 until 2016, during which time he took a remarkably keen interest in the built environment, commissioning, guiding, and shaping all manner of different projects. With his achievements he showed us all that massive privilege, leaping ambition, no concern for detail and a wasp’s attention span needn’t hold you back when it comes to creating terrible architecture. Nincompoopolis examines the built legacy of Johnson’s tenure, from his embarrassing follies to the folly of his policies, and wonders if there’s anything that can be learned from letting someone like him have a go at one the world’s great cities.

In a world where the built environment seems ever more shaped by invisible market forces, where modern architecture can seem to dissolve into a generic void, sometimes it takes a very special person...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781910924570
PRICE $14.95 (USD)
PAGES 240

Average rating from 8 members


Featured Reviews

Not set

Boris is never boring

Boris Johnson brings a lot of images to mind, but architecture is not usually one of them, unless you’re Douglas Murphy , a London architect. In that case, Johnson is a horror of bad taste, pointless edifices and unneeded construction. It seems eight years of Johnson as Mayor was a fine form of torture for an architect or designer.

The chapters of Nincompoopolis divide Johnson’s unfortunate record in architecture and design into categories like housing and transport. There’s a redundant new cable car system joining two points that don’t need it, an insane tower turned into an expensive slide that loses as much money as it is hideous, and a new line of bus that is so badly designed it is called the Roastmaster. All at the behest of Boris Johnson, influenced by him, and of course promoted by him.

More than that, Nincompoopolis is a tour of what’s wrong with London today, and how it got that way. It is a terrific insight by a local who has lived through it. Murphy is great on context.

He says Johnson was easy to understand. He needed action and he needed achievements. Didn’t matter if they were appropriate or not, needed or not, or well designed. As long as there was activity, he was in the spotlight and that’s all that mattered. It’s all about Boris and his appointment with destiny – the prime ministership.

Possibly the most searing criticism is Johnson’s total abandonment of the lower classes. He personally attended to 130 building projects that favored developers and the wealthy at the expense of the lower classes. He totally ignored decades of policy on council houses – subsidized housing that kept some sort of balance in London. Under Johnson, it was all about the rich. Absentee billionaire owners mattered far more than workers for Johnson’s London. In his last speech he took credit for none of the bottom 20 poorest areas being part of London. He broke them up and disbursed them all. Another job well done.

David wineberg

Not set
Was this review helpful?

I love books on architecture and i love a polemic so this is up my alley .

Murphy dissects Johnson's time in charge of London. Each chapter is a different aspect of life in London and it skewers Johnson as a buffoon and a man who will do whatever is necessary to succeed regardless of his abilities and the rights of his actions.

If you think this seems pointless never forget that Johnson has managed to use the lovable buffoon mask to hide the truth of who he is. The sense of anger is beautifully hidden behind a dissection of the action, any attempt to say this is a hatchet job is invalidated by the level of detail and the facts presented in the book .

Was this review helpful?

'Nincompoopolis' was a brilliant read, chock full of examples of Boris Johnson's mishandlings as Mayor of London. As a Londoner, I marvelled at his ineptness of tackling the housing crisis and heavy handed nature of The Met, but until reading this book had no idea of the scale of corruption involved at the top levels.

Spanning from the aforementioned pressing social issues to the ridiculous vanity projects of the Olympic Park, unnecessary Garden Bridge, and potential rebuild of the Crystal Palace, the book exposed the financial gains and illegal business dealings Boris entangled himself with during his tenure as Mayor. The amount of money from the public purse wasted on planning alone is eye watering; how far it could have gone to make this city a better place for its citizens absolutely engages me.

Murphy did a fantastic job of researching the subject from many angles and was able to back up his damming verdict that Boris just did not take his job seriously. The author is also an architect, so his eye for detail and design also helped to further explain Boris's professional gimmicks and personal gaffes at the top level.

A fantastic read for anyone interested in modern London, architecture, or political cronyism.

Thanks to Net Galley for providing me with an advanced copy.

Was this review helpful?

Readers who liked this book also liked: