Vertical: Stephen Graham in conversation with Iain Sinclair

Hear urbanist Stephen Graham and psychogeographer Iain Sinclair discuss the vertical city, from its penthouses to its sewers.

As humans excavate deep into the earth, build ever higher into the skies, and saturate airspaces and inner orbits with a myriad of vehicles, sensors and platforms, how might we begin to understand the varying dimensions of our urban spaces?

Today, our urban spaces can no longer be read as a two-dimensional map.

This conversation explores new perspectives on the way we live today with insights into the new politics of space and geography of hyper-density and verticalisation in cities.

Stephen Graham’s latest book, Vertical, studies the inequality and military structures behind our new cities: exploring how Dubai has been built to be seen from Google Earth, how São Paulo’s super rich live their penthouse lives far from the street, and why London billionaires build vast subterranean basements rather than move house.

Stephen Graham is Professor of Cities and Society at Newcastle University. His most recent book is Vertical: The City from Satellites to Bunkers

Iain Sinclair, FRSL, is a Welsh writer and filmmaker on psychogeography, and author of acclaimed book Orbital.

Tickets are free for members and £3 non-members.

All proceeds from our cultural programme go to the Kibera Hamlets school in Nairobi, where Second Home has funded the construction of a new school building designed by our architects Selgas Cano.