Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business/Economics    3. Community development    4. Marketing - General    5. Place marketing    6. Politics - Current Events    7. Politics / Current Events    8. Public Policy - City Planning & Urban Dev.    9. Public Policy - General    10. Political Science / Public Policy   

Subjects:  1. City planning    2. United States    3. Urban Planning   

Reviews (1)

Wow!
When I ordered this book I'd already knew that it's good, but it surprised me! It is different of the other books about urbanism history. Kostof have always a special point of view in his works. Here he shows the history of the city from a different angle, someway from the inside to outside. It don't analise the city from its form (from the outside), but from the elements that fills it. The street, the public space and other city elements tells about the city more than you think, because it is a mirror of the city and citizen culture. This book give to you a new point of view of the city. A must have to any architect and entusiast. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. Planning    3. Public Policy - City Planning & Urban Dev.    4. Social Science    5. Sociology    6. Sociology - Urban    7. Urban History    8. Urban Planning    9. City & town planning - architectural aspects    10. Social history    11. Urban communities   

Reviews (2)

Stupendous achievement
Cities in Civilization is a magnificent monument to human creativity, ingenuity, and beauty.More than half of this thousand page book is dedicated to examining the "golden ages" of various cities, searching for both commonalities and distinguishing characteristics.The first three hundred pages are devoted to creative and artistic golden ages, beginning with classical Athens and ending with Weimar Berlin, passing through Renaissance Florence, Elizabethan London, Vienna in the long nineteenth century, and Paris between war with Prussia and the first war with Germany.The next two hundred pages deal with innovative golden ages, beginning with industrial Manchester and ending with post-war Tokyo, passing though steam-ship Glasgow, Berlin of the Kaisers, Ford's Detroit, and Silicon Valley.Thirdly, Hall looks at the combinations of the creative and innovative urges that created golden ages in Los Angeles in the early twentieth century and Memphis in the middle of the same century.Finally, Hall spends the last half of the book scrutinizing the various ways that cities have combatted crowding, scarce resources, pollution, disease, transportation, and employment throughout history.This section begins with imperial Rom and ends with contemporary London, passing thorugh early industrial London, Haussmann's Paris, New York after the reconstruction of the American South, Los Angles throughout the twentieth century, and socialist Stockholm.Through the entire journey Hall takes us through twenty-one cities and eras, showing us their greatness as well as the factors that made them so.The journey is fantastic and brilliant.Hall shines as a historian, and displays a deep understanding of true scholarship and the academic process.Alternative views are always presented in an unbiased way, and when the accuracy of information (oftne the case up until the late modern period) cannot be determined he let's that be known.Hall does an excellent job of showing how people lived in these different times and locations, showing us that the notion and nature of a "golden age" has itself changed over time.A small detractor from the quality of the book is that there are no maps, and very few (proportionally) photographs and illustrations, but the main detractor is simply that it couldn't be longer.This is a stupendous achievement that you won't want to put down.

Intellectual Orgasm
Stunning and Beautiful. Peter hall depiscts the creation if innovation with exciting anecdotes and copious research. A mindblowing expereince. You're constantly re-expereinceing the most exciting times in human history, and Peter Hall outlines his ideas on common themes that run through these periods. I would get fired up everytime I sat down to read it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. History: World   

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Reviews (3)

Great book for Social/Urban Studies
This book is very excellent for those who are interested in Urban Studies. The author argued that instead of looking at the city as a product of agriculture community, rather, the city should be concerned as a catalyst for those agricultural activities. Without the city, the agriculture wouldn't exist! Interesting argument. Such a paradigm shift in understanding the city.

Helpful for Grad Students
The core of the book is a section of 6 chapters, each focusing on a key issue of post modern debate about megacities. I found this extremely helpful because each one starts with a list of 20 of the most important books about the issue, and contains Soja's summary of the main arguments of 4 or 5 important writers with occasionally enlightening commentary. It is Soja's own analysis that tends to fall flat, however. He criticizes the traditional left as not understanding the complexeties of modern cities, but the only examples he gives of modern progressive sucess stories are based on the kind of community organization coalitions pioneered by orthodox leftists like Saul Alinsky. Perhaps to counter it being written off so much as an anomoly, Soja overstates the case for Los Angeles as the model postmodern megacity. In order to do that he has to avoid talking about the main difference between it and larger cities like London, New York, Tokyo or S�o Paulo - its near total lack of what Oldenburg calls 3rd places: public, non-consumerist spaces where people socialize away from work and home. Soja mistakenly labels advocates of pedestrian friendly cities like Jane Jacobs as "nostalgic", ignoring the positive social factors that vibrant street live gives to every other city with over 10 million inhabitants in the World. He is also occasionally misleading in his statistics, repeatedly siting one neighborhood in LA as being more densily populated than the borough of Manhatten (which has a large non-residential business district and two huge parks), downplaying LAs sprawl problem. On the whole, however, it is a very helpful book to read if you are an urban studies student needing to familiarize yourself with current debates in postmodern urban theory.

Exciting view of the City
The city as a phenomenon has gone through major changes. Mr Soja displays some extraordinary visions and views of this phenomenon and invites us to an exciting journey of the urban and regional concept.Quite recommendable if you are interested in the subject and already know a bit about it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cities and towns    2. Metropolitan areas    3. Postmodernism    4. Social Science    5. Sociology    6. Sociology - General    7. Sociology - Urban    8. Spatial behavior    9. Urbanization    10. CITIES AND TOWNS_UNITED STATES    11. CITY PLANNING_UNITED STATES    12. City & town planning - architectural aspects    13. Cultural studies    14. LOS ANGELES (CALIF.)_SOCIAL CONDITIONS    15. Social Science / Sociology / Urban    16. URBAN GEOGRAPHY    17. Urban communities   

Subjects:  1. Political Science    2. Politics / Current Events    3. Politics/International Relations    4. Public Policy - City Planning & Urban Dev.    5. Urban & municipal planning   

Reviews (3)

Quite interesting...
I didn't think I'd like this book as much as I actually did.It was informative, questioning, and thought provoking.Great for someone who knows little about ecological literacy but wants to know more.A good beginner's book for someone starting to realize the intrinsic value in nature.

Quo Vadis...
One needn't read the blurb to know that DO is a professor. The writing style, the subject chosen and the way it has been treated, the examples given... all point towards a very advanced mind! The power of this book lies in the relentless power of the ideology and the prose to raise questions in the mind of the reader, and forcing the reader to reconsider some of his/her own beliefs and viewpoints. Another service to life - opening the discussion again
Orr expands on some of the themes brought to the forefront in his last two books (Ecological Literacy and Earth in Mind).However, he highlights aspects critical to a sustaining culture that lie outside the boundaries of convential educational thought, and even outside the previous bounds of Orr's comprehensive vision of education.

Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. General    3. Life Sciences - Ecology    4. Philosophy & Social Aspects    5. Public Policy - City Planning & Urban Dev.    6. Science    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Human ecology    9. Life Sciences | Ecology | Conservation Biology    10. Science / Ecology   

Reviews (1)

The Granite Garden
I am somewhat new to reading books such as this for pleasure, but I readwhat I think will interest me.I was thrown at first by the title thinkingthat the book was going to be about hard scaping.Instead this book was areal eye opener to a lot of things we take for granted every day.Chapterstitled soil, water, and air open up the reader to understand all that isenvolved in making a city before you get to the buildings and people.Iinitally borrowed the book from the library while reading it but had topurchase a copy of my own for future reference.I give this book a highrecommendation to anyone in the architecture or landscape fields. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. City planning    3. Environmental aspects    4. Human ecology    5. Landscape    6. Landscape architecture    7. City & town planning - architectural aspects    8. Garden design & planning    9. Management of land & natural resources   

Reviews (1)

Shaping the City
The item was delivered to me within a week and the condition of the book was in perfect condition. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Architecture    3. Case studies    4. Cities and towns    5. City planning    6. History    7. History - General    8. Metropolitan areas    9. Planning    10. Public Policy - City Planning & Urban Dev.    11. Architecture / Planning    12. City & town planning - architectural aspects    13. Theory of architecture    14. Urban & municipal planning    15. Urban communities    16. c 1800 to c 1900   

Reviews (1)

Doing Good Architecture
This is a big, beautiful book portraying the works of an architect who strived not to design monuments with a signature style, but instead create wonderful places that fit their landscape.The book chronicles twenty of Turnbull's projects beginning with the Sea Ranch Condominium (with MLTW) and ending with Turnbull and his wife's own weekend retreat, Teviot Springs Vineyard.All but one of the projects (Sea Ranch Athletic Club)are residential, which reflects the nature of Turnbull's career.The book contains essays by Mary Griffen (Turnbull's wife and business partner), William Stout, Mitchell Schwarzer, and Donlyn Lyndon.Turnbull's buildings contain innate beauty, sensitivity to site, and the ability to bring common, conventional construction to a high art.Morley Baer's black and white photography is powerful and captures the wonderful subtleties in Turnbull's sometines simple and conventional structures that are truly "GOOD" architecture. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Politics/International Relations    2. Public Policy - City Planning & Urban Dev.    3. Social Science    4. Sociology - Rural    5. Individual architects   

Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. City planning    3. Land use, Urban    4. Natural Resources    5. Nature    6. Planning    7. Regional planning    8. Sociology    9. Sociology - Urban    10. United States    11. Urban & Regional    12. Social Science / Sociology / Urban    13. Urban & municipal planning   

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Reviews (2)

The cornerstones of planning theory
The autors present a superb choice of classical texts on the field of urban planning. I recommend it to all of those who want a good reference on some of the most important ideas that have shaped this field until now.

A very good selection
This book is a very good beginning for a student interested in urban and regional planning. The selections are great, one example is the classic article from Lindblom "The science of muddling through", with several arguments in favor to 'incrementalism'. Another classic is Davidoff's "Advocacy and pluralism in planning", and the text from Beauregard, Krumholz, Healy and Harvey. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. City planning    3. Planning    4. Public Policy - City Planning & Urban Dev.    5. Social Science    6. Sociology    7. Sociology - General    8. Sociology - Urban    9. Political Science / City Planning & Urban Development    10. Urban & municipal planning    11. Urban communities   

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Cities and towns    3. Environmental aspects    4. Green Business    5. Growth    6. Political Science    7. Politics/International Relations    8. Public Policy - City Planning & Urban Dev.    9. Public Policy - Environmental Policy    10. Urban & Regional    11. Urban ecology    12. Urbanization    13. Environmental impact analysis    14. Environmentalist, conservationist & Green movements    15. Urban & municipal planning   

Reviews (2)

For consultants, worth its weight in gold
While not a cookbook, this is definitely a "how-to" book by a woman who's forgotten more about "how to" than I'll ever know. Betty explains not only how to research, analyze, and document the entirespectrum of possible environmental impacts, but why, and she does it ineasily accessible language. The bulk of her experience is intransportation, and it shows in the text, but the principles and proceduresapply to any federal project. I made sure my staff had a copy so theywouldn't keep swiping mine. Thanks, Betty, we needed this...it's everythingyou promised and more! The best all-in-one handbook for environmental practitioners
This would be excellent for use as a college textbook in engineering, planning, or administrative curricula.As a guide throught the environmental regulations maze, it is an invaluable to consultants and agency personnel alike.The advice and tips related to preparing better quality and more efficient environmental documents is well worth the investment in this book. C. Huntington Assistant Vice President Parsons Brinckerhoff ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business/Economics    2. Engineering - General    3. Environment    4. Environmental Engineering & Technology    5. Environmental Impact Analysis    6. Environmental policy    7. Political Science    8. Public Policy - Regional Planning    9. Reference    10. Technology & Industrial Arts    11. United States    12. Environmental factors    13. Environmental science    14. Technology / Environmental    15. The Environment   

Reviews (4)

The voice of reason is finally heard!
As an engineer I've been trained to draw conclusions based on data. I've been frustrated by the junk science that dominates the discussion of environmental issues. This scholarly, yet readable, work puts to rest the many myths propogated by psuedo-scientists with a political agenda to promote. It presents leading experts in a wide variety of fields who explain the relevant facts in the context of solid theory. The reader will come away with a deeper understanding of the situation which is: there are real problems, but they can be solved without the burden of massive regulation of our lives.

Rational Readings
Rational Readings is a massive compilation of essays written by the worlds top scientists on today's most discussed topics. Void of doom and gloom predictions that we hear so much about through the scare tactics of themedia and political groups, Rational Readings gives us the truth abouttoday's environment concerns. In response to the review from Wisconsin, Ifind it humorous that this reader could possibly think that all of theseworld renowned scientists have come together to write a reference book tosupport their common political agenda. Perhaps the spreading of truthshould be a more common political movement. My compliments and many thanksto the contributing scientists and to the editor, Dr. Jay Lehr for puttingtogether this great reference book.

Irrational readings for political reasons
As a scientist, I am embarrassed and outraged that this tome contains a myriad of errors and makes a number of outrageously hilarious statements: for example, the authors claim that acid rain is beneficial because itremoves "unwanted" organisms from lakes and streams, and thuscreates a "pristine environment" for swimmers and bathers. Ofcourse,this ignores the effects of acid rain on ecosystem functioning interms of multi-trophic interactions and ultimately, stability. Other topicsare handled in a similarly contemptible fashion. This book is a perfectexample of science distorted to support a political agenda. Certainly, itsone of the LEAST scientific books on the subject that I have read in along, long time. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Conservation Of Natural Resources (General)    2. Engineering - Environmental    3. Environmental Conservation & Protection - General    4. Environmental Engineering & Technology    5. Environmental Impact Analysis    6. Environmental Science    7. Environmental Studies    8. Nature    9. Nature/Ecology   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (1)

Comparative design
This book contains some of the loveliest reproductions of old maps I have ever scene.Aside from the beautiful pictures, the author includes interesting and valuable commentary to help the reader understand thesecity plans in the context of history and geography.All those interestedin urban design should read the eloquent forward of this book.It would behighly beneficial if more of our political leaders, and just people ingeneral, understood this era in urban design- the end of the traditionaland the beginning of the modern.With the help of this book, perhaps wecan bring about a new commitment to intelligent and beautiful urbanplanning for the future. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Atlases    2. Atlases - General    3. General    4. Historical Atlases    5. Public, Commercial, or Industrial Buildings    6. Reference    7. Urban Design    8. World - General    9. ASIA    10. City & town planning - architectural aspects    11. Europe    12. History / World    13. Map making & projections    14. Prints & printmaking    15. Russia    16. USA    17. c 1800 to c 1900   

Subjects:  1. City planning    2. Feminism & Feminist Theory    3. Gender Studies    4. Social Science    5. Social policy    6. Sociology    7. United States    8. Urban policy    9. Women    10. Urban & municipal planning   

Subjects:  1. Biotic communities    2. Congresses    3. Earth Sciences - Geography    4. Ecology    5. Ecosystem management    6. Environmental Science    7. Life Sciences - Ecology    8. Science    9. Science/Mathematics    10. Sociology    11. Sociology - Urban    12. Study and teaching    13. Urban ecology    14. Applied ecology    15. Political Science / City Planning & Urban Development    16. Urban & municipal planning    17. Urban communities   

Subjects:  1. Case studies    2. Cities and towns    3. Crime prevention    4. Europe    5. Evaluation    6. Human Geography    7. Social Science    8. Sociology    9. Sociology - Urban    10. Urban policy    11. Causes & prevention of crime    12. Urban & municipal planning   

Subjects:  1. 1846-1912    2. 20th century    3. Burnham, Daniel Hudson,    4. Chicago    5. City planning    6. History    7. History - U.S.    8. History: American    9. Illinois    10. Planning    11. Public Policy - City Planning & Urban Dev.    12. United States - 20th Century    13. United States - 20th Century (1900-1945)    14. United States - State & Local - General    15. United States - State & Local - Midwest    16. City & town planning - architectural aspects    17. History / United States / 20th Century    18. Individual architects    19. Local history    20. Urban renewal & regeneration    21. c 1900 - c 1914