Subjects:  1. Architectural Firms    2. Architecture    3. Art    4. Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions    5. General    6. City & town planning - architectural aspects    7. Theory of architecture   

Editorial Review

In the 19th century, the Brooklyn Bridge was viewed as the greatest engineering feat of mankind. The Roeblings--father and son--toiled for decades, fighting competitors, corrupt politicians, and the laws of nature to fabricate a bridge which, after 100 years, still provides one of the major avenues of access to one of the world's busiest cities--as compared to many bridges built at the same time which collapsed within decades or even years. It is refreshing to read such a magnificent story of real architecture and engineering in an era where these words refer to tiny bits and bytes that inspire awe only in their abstract consequences, and not in their tangible physical magnificence. ... Read more

Reviews (52)

A Book for Grandma
I could not get through this book.After 150 pages, I granted myself a pardon and tossed this book into the "books for people with more time and less interests" pile.
A woman built the Brooklyn Bridge
While the Brooklyn Bridge is the oldest of the bridges crossing the East River, it's one of the strongest, sturdiest and will most likely outlast the Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges. John Roebling and his son, Washington, did not know how the forces of nature and bridge loads would affect their bridge. Given this gap in their knowledge they overcompensated by building a bridge capable of withstanding forces many times greater than would ever be applied to their structure.
Project Management 101
All too often we walk by things that are true wonders.Yes, we need to slow down, stop, and smell the flowers, but how many of us stop and think about how wonderful the manmade structures are that we use every day?This story of the Brooklyn Bridge shows just how marvelous is that bridge - from its conception through its actual construction and dedication.It's all here: political intrigue, official corruption, flights of inventive genius, family drama, danger, and the list could go on.As alluded to in the title I chose for this review, this book should be read by anyone contemplating project management, because there are so many lessons here for folks who want to keep a project moving in the right direction.I give this book 5 stars because it is a marvelous story about a monumental construction. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Bridge Engineering    2. Brooklyn Bridge (New York, N.Y    3. Brooklyn Bridge (New York, N.Y.)    4. Engineering - Civil    5. General    6. History - General History    7. History: American    8. Technology    9. United States - State & Local - General    10. City & town planning - architectural aspects    11. History / General    12. Social history    13. USA   

Editorial Review

The second of three books published by the Center for Environmental Structure to provide a "working alternative to our present ideas about architecture, building, and planning," Read more

Reviews (60)

A great book for understanding your world
I always knew that I felt comfortable and relaxed in some places (houses, rooms, neighborhoods), but it was often hard to put my finger on why.After reading this book, I know.It's a bit hard to explain, but after Alexander explains the importance of, say, an entrance transition, you'll know why even though you feel completely relaxed around Bill, you're never relaxed at his house, which opens straight onto the street.Few books have changed my perceptions of my everyday world as much as this one.
planning and design resource
This resource book is a somewhat obscure but very useful tome on the use of space by people across cultural and generational bounds. For the practicing planning and design professional it offers useful insights that are sometimes obvious, but not always reduced to ths succinct perspective that the investigators bring to their study. It is a worthwhile addition to the library of reference books.

It makes you feel good...
Never before have I read a book which is nominally a textbook that made me feel "right". A Pattern Language succeeds without trying to define all the reasons that make places comfortable. Totally in tune with how people work, play and interact. Chris Alexander would have to be one of the most profoundly insightful people I have read. The man is a legend in his own time. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. City planning    3. Criticism    4. Design & Drafting    5. Planning    6. Semiotics    7. Symbolism in architecture    8. Architecture / Design & Drafting    9. Art & Architecture | Theory & Criticism; Aesthetics    10. City & town planning - architectural aspects   

Editorial Review

"A city is a plane of tarmac with some red hot spots of intensity," Rem Koolhaas, the pathbreaking architect and author of such semiotically seminal books as Read more

Reviews (9)

Empty of Ideas and Full of Itself
This ridiculous book is nothing more and nothing less than a sad example of the disdain these authors feel for the world at large and for their poor readers in particular. Riddled with typos, filled with pictures of the poorest quality and utterly devoid of any original ideas, the book falls back, again and again, on worn, political cliches and pompous, unnecessarily complex phrasings that serve only one purpose: to conceal the fact that there is absolutely nothing of worth or merit being said here (beyond the incredibly, utterly astounding insight that cities, third world cities especially, are growing pretty darn fast!) At certain points it seems that even the writers can't follow their own ramblings. One particularly confused contributor (McKenzie Wark) writes " . . . technologies enclose, they count and rank what they enclose." Then, four sentences later, he/she writes: "Technologies do not enframe. There's no enclosure . . ." And that is about as coherent as that writer gets. One can only conclude that these people never expected anyone to actually read their book, since they obviously didn't take the time to read it themselves. Thank you Rem Koolhaas and your band of incompetent contributors for wasting my time and money on this utter disgrace of a book.

nice book, far nicer object
this book is packed with info. some of it is relatively hard to get at (your eyes are likely to glaze over at the reams of essays formatted in a narrow, sans-serif OCR-esque font) but the content and data is pretty good. it looks very nice in your bookshelf, but when hitting it up for a re-read, you may find yourself cursing the designers' decisions to go with form over function, IMHO.

Outstanding
This book is to be considered a piece of historical evidence of the tendencies of thought of the new era. Whether you may find the concepts proposed not suitable, every prospective or practicing architect, designer or urban planner must be aware of the latest tendencies of thought in order to be the best-educated he/she can be. Read more

Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. Planning    3. Public, Commercial, or Industrial Buildings    4. City & town planning - architectural aspects    5. Urban & municipal planning   

Reviews (1)

State of the art transportation planning text
Urban Transportation Planning is well written and well organized. Complicated modeling techniques are explained in detail. The process flow charts and bubble graphs simplify complex relationships between transportation, land use, planning and politics. Strengths and weaknesses of different modeling strategies are discussed in detail.Read more

Subjects:  1. Engineering - Civil    2. Planning    3. Politics - Current Events    4. Politics / Current Events    5. Politics/International Relations    6. Public Policy - City Planning & Urban Dev.    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Technology    9. Transportation Policy And Planning    10. Urban transportation    11. City & town planning - architectural aspects    12. Technology / Engineering / Civil    13. Transport industries    14. Transport: General Interest   

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Real Estate - Investments    3. Reference    4. City & town planning - architectural aspects    5. Property & real estate   

Reviews (11)

Misses the Point
Stan Allen is one of the self-styled theorists who see architecture and urbanism as an abstract set of geometries,Allen fails to understand that most cities are living organisms and that relationships and form are pointless without comprehending the viltal, human function.Anyone who has experienced the great urban spaces of Italy or Paris will know that urban design is not a graphic exercise.Allen's lacks the mental facility to adress this component of design and his diagrams are more ignorant that one can imagine.This book is rubbish of the very worst sort.-Recommend you readJane Jacobs'Life and Death of Great American Cities' instead.

Forcing Form/Forming Force
This book addresses a universal question in regards to understanding and, more importantly, presenting an abstract, yet more comprehensible reference between architecture and other contextual elements.Stan Allen proposes that they are all fractions of a common system, the most complex order of `the city' in this case.He has eloquently woven various aspects of these manifold connections through his writings, and validated them in extremely stimulating diagrams.The results are projects that are filters for seeing figures of architecture in exchange with the background of the city.Architecture is complicated; not by itself, but because it is a component in a complicated network. This condition in the city can be manipulated by (and through) architecture--in the form (and force) of a point, other times of a line, but most of the time both.

Forcing Form/Forming Force
This book addresses a universal question in regards to understanding and, more importantly, presenting an abstract, yet more comprehensible reference between architecture and other contextual elements.Stan Allen proposes that they are all fractions of a common system, the most complex order of `the city' in this case.He has eloquently woven various aspects of these manifold connections through his writings, and validated them in extremely stimulating diagrams.The results are projects that are filters for seeing figures of architecture in exchange with the background of the city.Architecture is complicated; not by itself, but because it is a component in a complicated network. This condition in the city can be manipulated by (and through) architecture--in the form (and force) of a point, other times of a line, but most of the time both. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Allen, Stan    3. Architectural practice, Intern    4. Architectural practice, International    5. Architecture    6. Architecture, Modern    7. Individual Architect    8. Individual Architects Of The 20th Century    9. Planning    10. Themes, motives    11. Architectural structure & design    12. Architecture / General    13. Architecture / Individual Architect    14. City & town planning - architectural aspects    15. Individual architects    16. city    17. diagrams    18. projects   

Reviews (6)

Excellent peek inside one of the legendary firms
This book is a rare but insightful look into the practice of one of the New Urbanist legends. UDA began the pattern book revival a decade ago (and also has a book out describing the process of writing one.) They also are one of the pioneers of the New Urbanist revolution, which, by discarding the fictions of Modernist planning, have rediscovered existing methods and have discovered new methods of creating compact, mixed-use and walkable neighborhoods that were always the basic cellular structure of cities from the dawn of time until just before World War II. We have understood the basic principles again for some time. What this book shows are some of the mechanics of how to do it again.

How to build a great city
The architects at Urban Design Associates use war stories and bold illustrations to provide detailed instructions on how to transform a blighted urban area into an aesthetically pleasing community. This Pittsburg-based firm created the architectural plans for city redevelopment in communities from Cincinnati, Ohio to Winston-Salem, North Carolina to Riverside County, California. The book shares UDA's time-tested, 10-part "charrette process." First Of Its Genre, A Valuable Resource
The Pittsburgh-based firm Urban Design Associates has been in practice for nearly 40 years, over the decades accumulating quite a lot of experience in urban design.This is UDA's in-house training manual, polished and augmented for public use.If you are starting out in the urban design field, or are just curious about the methods of a successful firm, this is a good place to begin your investigations.Read more

Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. City planning    3. Design & Drafting    4. Methodology    5. Planning    6. Public, Commercial, or Industrial Buildings    7. United States    8. Urban Architecture    9. City & town planning - architectural aspects   

Subjects:  1. City planning    2. Environmental Engineering & Technology    3. General    4. Political Science    5. Politics / Current Events    6. Politics/International Relations    7. Public Policy - Regional Planning    8. Sociology - Urban    9. Urban Planning    10. Urban renewal    11. Political Science / City Planning & Urban Development    12. Regional geography    13. Urban communities    14. Urban renewal & regeneration   

Reviews (1)

Stunning Book!
If you want the book on urban design, one piece of work that covers it all and gives you depth, insight and outlook on this field like no other - then this is for you! A book that will become a classic in this field. Absoluetly with no competition! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. Planning    3. Public, Commercial, or Industrial Buildings    4. Architectural structure & design    5. Architecture / Planning    6. Urban & municipal planning   

Reviews (2)

Caveat Emptor
The second chapter is the nuts and bolts of financing equipment. The numbers are commonly wrong. There are WAY to many mistakes. This is a textbook for a heavy equipment class. It's the third week of the semester (Fresno State) and we're dying...

No attention to detail
This book had so many errors, the entire class including the instructor were confused.It is very sad to see a textbook in its fifth or sixth edition with so many mistakes.Many of the questions at the end of the chapter are so poorly written, that there was no solution.Clearly, the authors had a goal and a message to convey, but because there was no attention to detail, the message was muddy at best.I remain disenchanted with the general quality of textbooks, but this is one of the worst examples of a textbook I have ever seen.Come on America, educate! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Building    2. Construction - General    3. Engineering - Civil    4. Environmental Engineering & Technology    5. Planning    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Technology    8. Technology & Industrial Arts    9. Building construction & materials    10. Management & management techniques    11. Technology / Construction & Construction Trades    12. Urban & municipal planning   

Features

• Illustrated

Reviews (1)

Good read and study of planning history!
My university is using this book as a text as part of our study of Planning History.It is a very good read and is unlike a textbook.Outlines planning history from 1880 to 1980. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Architecture    3. City planning    4. Design & Drafting    5. History    6. Planning    7. Public Policy - City Planning & Urban Dev.    8. Social Science    9. Sociology    10. Sociology - General    11. Sociology - Urban    12. CITY PLANNING_HISTORY    13. Political Science / City Planning & Urban Development    14. Social history    15. Urban & municipal planning    16. Urban communities   

Reviews (1)

GIS for the Urban Environment
This is truly a wonderful book. Although I plan on using it as a text book for some of the courses which I teach, it is also a fantastic reference and refresher for even experienced geographers. To my knowledge, it is the most complete and well written book dealing with GIS in an urban setting. The text is clear and simple without being simplistic, the labs are well designed and do a good job putting theory into practice, and the case studies are varied and interesting. Kudos to Maantay and Zeigler for writing what is sure to become the indispensable Urban GIS text. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cities and towns    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Earth Sciences - Geography    4. Geographic information systems    5. Human Geography    6. Information Systems (Geography)    7. Public Policy - City Planning & Urban Dev.    8. Science    9. Science/Mathematics    10. Social Science    11. Sociology    12. Sociology - Urban    13. Urban Geography    14. Geographical information systems (GIS)    15. Science / Geography   

Reviews (2)

Packed with Knowledge!
Every once in a while a little book comes along that, while small in size, carries sufficient intellectual weight to strike the body politic between the eyes, thereby getting its collective attention. This may be one such book. It offers a realistic look at megaprojects - those major infrastructure endeavors that span vast bodies of water, dam natural resources to generate energy and extend rail lines to previously unreachable regions - and compares the promises of these projects to what they actually deliver. The report card isn't very good. Cost overruns are typically 25% to 100%, and sometimes 200% or more. Worse yet, studies show that the public tends to use megaprojects - be they airports or subway systems - only a fraction of the amount predicted. We strongly recommends this book to politicians, legislators and anyone who wants to know the truth behind these huge infrastructure projects, as well as to CEOs, CFOs, project managers and risk officers in the private sector - this applies to your projects, even if there is a difference of scale.

A fool,his money and the bridge that parted them.......
I am the first amazon.com reviewer of this short, but important book. It concerns me that this might reflect a diminished U.S. readership.That would be unfortunate. Professor Bent Flyvbjerg and his colleagues have written a book of significance to taxpayers everywhere.It's apparent that they have written this book largely for the policy-maker; yet, make no mistake about it:the ordinary taxpayer has a major stake in this book's message.The central characters in Megaprojects and Risk are three large-scale, European transportation projects:the Chunnel, the Great Belt and the Oresund.American readers unfamilar with these names (the chunnel connecting London and Paris is perhaps the most recognizable to American readers)will nonetheless recognize familiar features.Specifically, they will find project costs that exceed estimates, and revenue inflows that are below projections.The traits are not unique to these projects.In fact, cost over-runs and revenue disappointments are a familiar global refrain, according to these authors.In spite of this, the number and scale of infrastructure projects continues to grow, forming what they call the megaproject paradox.The book is stronger on documenting problems, including the lack of project post-audits, than on providing solutions.I think they have correctly identified the problem -- the lack of accountability throughout the project life-cycle -- but their solution, which largely involves ensuring a healthy segment of private capital not supported by state guarantees, together with more attention to genuine risk assessment, falls short of the mark.The risk assessment tools are firmly established and largely well-understood (Monte Carlo simulation packages are increasingly available).So is the "moral hazard" problem that rears its ugly head when projects (in this case) are "over-insured."The difficulty, which they acknowledge, is that the political interplay between state, private interests and NGOs are decisive in determining whether and to what extent the appropriate risk assessment and risk management tools are used. Read more

Subjects:  1. Economics - General    2. Project Management    3. Risk management    4. Social Science    5. Sociology    6. Sociology - General    7. Economics    8. Environmental science    9. Regional & Area Planning    10. Social Science / Sociology / General    11. Social issues    12. Social, group or collective psychology   

Reviews (7)

Time to Pay Attention
I'm actually studying to be an Urban Planner in school.New Urbanism was a concept that greatly interested me because its principles focus around SMART and RESPONSIBLE planning.
Community is not Architecture
I grew up in what new urbanists would probably call a paradise. It was a real community in which neighbours were really neighbours. People did sit on their verandahs and converse with their neighbours on the street. There was an understanding that one could borrow things if the owner wasn't using them. It was considered polite to tell the owner if he was there but if he was away one could just borrow the thing and tell him when he came home if one was still using it. In short it was everything new urbanism wants. This was in a moderately large city in Canada. Every library in the country should have this book!
I have only had the book a day and already it has given me great pleasure and joy.I love the fantastic pictures and diagrams.The computer digitalizations on a few existing towns today and what they could be likewere truely fasinating.I couldn't help not liking the indepthdescriptions of numourous cities, towns, and villages from around thecountry and canada as well.This book had colorful photos and diagrams,this book to me is pure genus! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Architects and community    2. Architecture    3. Architecture - Human Factors    4. Canada    5. Human factors    6. Landscape    7. Planning    8. United States    9. Architecture / Planning    10. City & town planning - architectural aspects   

Subjects:  1. Administration - General    2. Architecture    3. Case studies    4. Design    5. Landscape    6. Landscape Architecture And Design    7. Psychological aspects    8. School Plant And Facilities    9. School environment    10. School grounds    11. Adolescents    12. Architecture / Landscape    13. Children    14. City & town planning - architectural aspects    15. Education-Administration - General   

Reviews (3)

not detailed...very general overview of various green buildings
book is small format. covers about 50 building/urban projects which utilize green energy. however, most analysis is only one page to 2 page including diagrams and photos, and without any detail summary. the author have divided the book in sections such as "air we breath, skyscraper garden, energy, construction, and etc". Despite a clear outline, he uses too many buildings with very little detail instead of just using 1 or 2 buildings in great detail for each topic.
Information on the Surface
The book was a bit dissapointing.I anticipated reading more indepth detail about the featured projects with diagrams/pictures of the major energy efficient application.Instead the information is only on the surface.It provides beautiful pictures of the building, with two page excerpts of each project (mainly pictures with a paragraph description), a list of the energy efficient applicatios and small floor plans and elevations, if any.A few projects feature the sustainable application methods, such as a diagram of natural ventilation.Overall, it's a good reference to start your research and find a sustainable building to research on, but the information is limited.It's also a good reference for lists of sustainable applications, definitions and essays.The projects are also divided up in five categories: Energy, Light & Air, Greenery Water & Waste, Construction and Urbanism.There are a lot of projects within each category that will spark your interest.

Fresh air
"Big and Green: Toward Sustainable Architecture in the 21st Century", by David Gissen, is published in conjunction with an exhibit at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. from January 17 to June 22, 2003.The book clearly shows that a group of architects has addressed the energy and environmental challenges facing many countries as they industrialize and enter the global marketplace.Their buildings indicate that a breath of fresh air has reinvigorated architectural practice to produce buildings that are climate-responsive, energy efficient, and occupant friendly while cleaning rainwater, reducing air pollucion, and enhancing the local environment as opposed to degrading it.The forms and shapes of these new buildings express these new functions in an authentic and genuine manner rather than look like relatively normal buildings with alien technologies applied to them.These buildings give hope that architecture can improve conditions for a sustainable society and not remain an energy and resource sink. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. Commercial buildings    3. Criticism    4. Exhibitions    5. Forecasting    6. History - Specific Styles    7. Public, Commercial, or Industrial Buildings    8. Sustainable architecture    9. 21st century    10. Architecture / General    11. Architecture / Public, Commercial, or Industrial Buildings    12. Green Giants    13. Sustainability    14. Sustainable Skyscrapers    15. Urban & municipal planning    16. skyscrapers   

Reviews (2)

History of Urban Form: A seminal work.
This book is seminal and contains a wealth of information. The 3rd edition is, however, severely fragmented with Islamic cities addressed in two unrelated chapters and Japanese and Chinese urbanism as annexures! captions and references are in a very small font, as are some illustrations, making them irritatingly difficult to read. But for an overview of pre-industrial urbanism ... a must buy!

not as imagine
the description said the book is still new, but it arrived stink and looking pretty old.overall, it's usable, but less than what i expected. the seller should have given better and more honest description. also, the packaging was really bad. not protective at all. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cities and towns, Ancient    2. Cities and towns, Medieval    3. City planning    4. Earth Sciences - Geography    5. History    6. Planning    7. Politics / Current Events    8. Public Policy - City Planning & Urban Dev.    9. Science    10. Science/Mathematics    11. Urban Planning    12. City & town planning - architectural aspects    13. Designed / suitable for A & AS Level    14. Europe    15. History Of Art / Art & Design Styles    16. Science / Geography    17. USA   

Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. Individual Architect    3. Individual Architects Of The 20th Century    4. Interior Design    5. Interior Design - General    6. Politics / Current Events    7. Public Policy - City Planning & Urban Dev.    8. Architecture / General    9. Architektur    10. Individual architects    11. Le Corbusier    12. Salubra-Farben   

Reviews (3)

great reading for someones,a brick in the bookshelf of others
It is a fundamental piece of work on the theoretical study of architecture and cities. The topic that Rossi documents and discusses is far from being concluded, which demonstrates the relevance of this publication edited for the first time about 40 years ago.
a classic...
The practical work of Aldo Rossi is known to may, and has attracted agreat number of followers for its common-sensical approach to architecture,at a time (the 60's) when Modern architecture ran out of steam and fellinto a vacuous "play of forms" without sense nor content. Yet thetheoretical foundation of the Rossian work remains fairly unknown, and itis distilled into 2 works: the paradigmatic "Architecture of theCity", which was a serious attempt to readdress the role ofarchitecture in the urban context [something ignored by most Modernists];and the "Scientific Autobiography" which is a witty essay of agreat architect's discovery and experience of architecture and life... Thiswork,the "Architecture of the City", is definitely the morescholarly of the 2 books translated into English, and despite some of itscontestable aspects [the romanticization of the Mietskaserne in Berlin forinstance], it still presents itself as one of the key documents on urbanthought in the twentieth century, along with Corbusier's"Urbanisme" and Koolhaas's "Delirious New York". Definitely recommended for students of Architecture and Urbanism...

incredible and different
i liked it and would recommend it to a friends family ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. City planning    3. General    4. Planning    5. Public, Commercial, or Industrial Buildings    6. Architecture / General    7. City & town planning - architectural aspects