"Permanent Revolution: Architecture and Politics in North Korea"

Chris Springer, Author, "Pyongyang: The Hidden History of the North Korean Capital"

North Korea’s cities were leveled by U.S. bombing in the Korean War. When the rubble was cleared, the North Korean regime had a blank slate on which to rebuild. And construction has proceeded, undisturbed, for the past 50 years.

Rarely has architecture been so influenced by totalitarian rule. Showcase buildings and monuments reinforce the state’s core values: leader-worship, collectivism, and triumphalism. Yet, as history reveals, these structures have also been shaped by compromises, conflicts, and failures.

Author Chris Springer recently returned from his third trip to North Korea. His lecture and slide show explains how North Korean architecture and urban design evolved, what makes it important, and what it reveals about the North Korean state.