Baku: Oil and Urbanism is the first architectural study of the relationship between oil and urbanism. Its focus is Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan and formerly part of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union. Since the late 19th century, oil and urbanism have been intertwined in the spaces of the city. Later, Baku was the site of one of the most spectacular experiments in Soviet urban and infrastructural design ---Neft Dashlari, - the first off-shore drilling facility in the world, a city built on trestles in the Caspian Sea. Today, Baku is undergoing its second major oil boom. The book examines how urban design, planning, and architecture have dealt with the issue of oil in varying political conditions.

Eve Blau is a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She has previously been curator of exhibitions and publications at the Canadian Centre of Architecture CCA in Montreal. Ivan Rupnik is associate professor at Northeastern University’s College of Arts, Media and Design in Boston.The book also features a new photo essay by celebrated photographer Iwan Baan.

Baku: Oil and Urbanism is the first architectural study of the relationship between oil and urbanism. Its focus is Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan and formerly part of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union. Since the late 19th century, oil and urbanism have been intertwined in the spaces of the city. Later, Baku was the site of one of the most spectacular experiments in Soviet urban and infrastructural design ---Neft Dashlari, - the first off-shore drilling facility in the world, a city built on trestles in the Caspian Sea. Today, Baku is undergoing its second major oil boom. The book examines how urban design, planning, and architecture have dealt with the issue of oil in varying political conditions.

Eve Blau is a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She has previously been curator of exhibitions and publications at the Canadian Centre of Architecture CCA in Montreal. Ivan Rupnik is associate professor at Northeastern University’s College of Arts, Media and Design in Boston.The book also features a new photo essay by celebrated photographer Iwan Baan.