Book Description

This efficiency-boosting resource gives you fast access to 350 of the most commonly used site construction details. Details for curbs, steps, lighting fixtures, walls, and much more are ready to be copied from the convenient spiral-bound, lie-flat format. In addition, this manual offers you a clear view of each detail both in section and in a photograph of a sample installation. To further simplify and speed up your design and adaptation work, each clear, standard-scaled detail is accompanied by full data on cost, CSI Masterformat reference, applications, installation, intensity of use and substrate constraints, maintenance and climatological requirements, and other relevant considerations. Perfect for on-site consultation or desktop at-a-glance reference, as well as time-saving adaptation to documents, Site Construction Details Manual gives landscape, design, and construction professionals the comprehensive and up-to-date selection of details they need, right where they need it. Any way you look at it, this all-in-one detail anthology is an invaluable on-the-job toolÑone that youÕll definitely want to keep within reach. And it's a handy companion to the popular Landscape Construction Details CD-ROM! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

inspirational
Woods is as much philosopher and urban planner as architect in the traditional sense. His buildings rip open the landscape of the ordered grid, and also open new possibilities about what it means to inhabit a space. The functions of some of his ideas for buildings are obscure even to him. He is constantly trying to deconstruct the politics of architecture and it's place in history. He actively embodies Heidegger's idea that "dwelling means to recieve the sky", except in his dwellings it also means to recieve the ground, and to actively take part in constructing your world.

Truly remarkable little book.
In this work I have seen the necessity for Woods' architecture to exist; where before I had only seen compelling drawings. Lebbeus Woods has dedicated this manifesto to the city of Sarajevo, and to all cities whichbear the signs of armed conflict on their walls. He states that theemergence of a new architecture is especially crucial in Sarajevo where the architecture was the target of the attackers (from within) who meant todestroy the culture there in all of its manifestations.The architectureof that culture, the places of worship and of social congregation, becamethe primary target for the ethnic genocide.As much as the bodies of thepeople, the architecture was destroyed for its significance as the publicbody. Therefore it is the architecture which must give a physical presenceto these atrocities. Woods makes it clear that it is the responsibility ofthe architecture to preserve the memory of the destruction- not in asentimental or memorial manner- but in the same manner as the life ofcities has been preserved through use and adaptation throughout history.The war is part of the reality of the place and therefore should not beerased. This work also resists the glorification of war of the ItalianFuturists, and the `tabula rasa' erasure of existing conditions of theModernists.This is a work which acknowledges growth and destruction inthe same breath.It is existential in its acceptance of reality and itsmeans of building with it.... not nihilistic.It is existential in that itknows no reality other than what is there, but is not fully convinced byits authority.It revels in the multitudinous nature of the contemporaryworld, of the present. Unlike the Modernists, Woods does not intend toreinvent the city but to allow the city to be more itself.This work, hisinfamous drawings, is an attempt to recognize the reality of a placethrough actualization of events.... By building in and upon the ruins heremakes them into the living substance of the city, leaving no traceunexposed. ... Read more

Book Description

Painting a picture of America's first-tier suburbs-those surrounding large central cities-that were left behind during the extraordinary revitalization of downtowns in the 1990s, this book highlights the places where many of the nation's most critical issues such as education reform, immigration and diversity, economic restructuring, neighborhood planning, and social exclusion are played out on a daily basis. Focusing on the unique and substantial assets these places offer and highlighting the enthusiasm and commitment of the people who live and work there, this book's portrayal of these metropolitan pivot points offers reasons for hope, strategies for rejuvenation, and solutions for local officials, policy makers, developers, and citizens who are looking for ways to revive stressed communities. Woven into the narrative are examples from many communities, including poverty and scandal-afflicted Camden, New Jersey, and East St. Louis, Illinois; a string of tired industrial towns on Chicago's south side; and fiscally destitute Lincoln Heights, Ohio. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

This is MUST reading for community & business leaders!
Everyone who is deeply involved in the health (economic, social, or environmental) of their community needs to read this book. "Halfway to Everywhere" lends brilliant clarity to a morass of complex issues, and opens a whole new dialogue on economic and community planning.

Suburbs are usually written-off as nothing more than a boring middle ground between the vibrant urban center and the bucolic countryside. Instead, it turns out that they have been (and still are) the proving ground for many of the most powerful trends that are shaping out world.

Only someone deeply intimate with the dynamics of metropolitan development could have written this pioneering book, which is the first to properly document the cultural significance of our older suburbs. As one of America's most successful mayors, and as Senior Fellow at the Urban Land Institute (a premiere thought-leader on development issues), Bill Hudnut is probably better qualified to write this than anyone. Period.

Hudnut shows how an understanding of first-tier suburbs leads to insights of tremendous value to anyone whose fortunes ride on community revitalization. You'll come away with a deep understanding of how our metropolitan areas arrived at their current condition. You'll see how the rapidly emerging disciplines of restorative development have been dramatically bringing dead and dying communities back to life. You'll also discover where current trends are likely to lead.

Anyone working in the global "restoration economy"--who needs rapid and deep insight into the problems and opportunities of our cities--will find it in this fascinating, well-written, and well researched work. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! ... Read more

Book Description

Sim Van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan present a vision of how the living world and the human world can be rejoined by taking ecology as the basis for design. Ecological design intelligence-effective adaptation to and integration with nature's processes-can be applied at all levels of scale, creating revolutionary forms of buildings, landscapes, cities, and technologies.

The authors weave together case studies, personal anecdotes, images, and theory to provide a thorough treatment of the concept of ecological design. In the process, they present and explain a series of design principles that can help build a sustainable world with increased efficiency, fewer toxics, less pollution, and healthier natural systems. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

What is sustainable design?
A new benchmark in ecological awareness. Sym van der Ryn has long been practicing ecological design, and draws on his wealth of experience to give readers many valuable insights into this growing practice. Van der Ryn warns readers to separate the wheat from the chaff as there are many persons claiming to be toeing the line when it comes to sustainable design, but few are actually doing it. What is needed is a whole new approach to eco-friendly architecture and planning development, not just more band-aids.

The book takes a fairly general approach but there are numerous references for those really interested in pursuing the subject in more depth. He outlines his principles of ecological design which begins with gaining a better awareness of your locality, by looking into the ecological history of your community. Who knows your street may be where a stream once flowed, and that your storm drain in all likelihood flows into your water source, so be careful what you dump into it!

Van der Ryn avoids the cliches and pieces together a compelling set of anecdotes and observations which will open you up the broad field of possibilities. The book is well researched and written, with the valuable assistance of Stuart Cowan, a former student of van der Ryn. It is imperative that we gain a better appreciation of our natural environment before adding any more to our built environment. Sustainable design is our only future.

Landscape Architect
This book is a good intro to the "why" of ecological design. It gives its informatiion in a non-technical way and explains the reasons we should approch design this way. I recommend it for all those involved with land and building design and development. ... Read more

Book Description

This hands-on guidebook provides practical, applied information on design considerations, site planning and understand-ing, plant selection, installation, and maintenance of trees in challenging urban environments. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

First Rate!
As a horticulturist who works in both urban and suburban settings, I was thrilled to find this book. In every job site-not just the "urban" ones-I encounter environments that are inhospitable (if not hostile!) to tree growth. Trees in the Urban Landscape walks me through site analysis and site modification, plant selection, planting, and after care, addressing such various issues as how much soil volume is really enough for a given species to how to create "breakout trenches" for existing trees.

The illustrations and photos are excellent, techniques are explicitly outlined step by step, and the appendix includes extremely useful lists of trees that can tolerate wet and dry conditions, pH extremes, and salt damage.

I would recommend this book to horticulturists, landscape architects, city foresters, nurserymen, garden writers, landscape contractors, and anyone who wants to give trees the best possible advantage in the challenging situations that we encounter every day.

I count this book as one of my top three most useful references, in the company of Dirr's Manual of Woody Landscape Plants and Gilman's Illustrated Guide to Pruning. Trees in the Urban Landscape is a unique and indispensable contribution to arboriculture. ... Read more

Book Description

The dramatic shift in social and cultural consciousness that occurred in the last few decades left a deep imprint on the gestalt of our cities and calls for active reflection. The time has come to seek unique and creative strategies for developing urban environments and to establish a fresh relationship between the city and its surrounding landscape. Drawing on the wisdom of Taoist philosophy, "Learning from China" formulates a new and responsible approach to the challenge of caring for the continuous transformation of cities.Carl Fingerhuth is an internationally renowned expert in urban planning. He is not only Professor for Urban Planning (Darmstadt Technical University) but has also been actively involved in projects in Europe, USA, Africa and China.In this publication numerous richly illustrated examples drawn from his own practice and experience bring the author's concepts and approach to life. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Connecting Worlds
This book went straight to my heart! Fingerhuth has masterfully connected the ancient philosophy of Taoism with the needs of today's modern urban cities. In a fresh, innovative and personal way, he takes us to a place "beyond" modernism, to a new consciousness of the intimate relationship between our urban environments and their surrounding landscapes. This book proposes a gestalt for the city of today that takes into consideration the sensitivities, complexities and idiosycrasies of the post-modern human being. I highly recommend this book to the city-dweller who longs for a more human envoronment in which to live but also to the urban planner whose job it is to create urban spaces in which we can live, breathe and begin to feel at home.

Exceptional work
This book illustrates how each time and society expresses the core values of its philosophy in the way it develops cities. The many fantastic pictures visualize the concepts of the book in a thought inspiring manner. For me this book was a journey through time and around the world, accompanied by the personal experience and philosophy of the author, which felt like having a personal talk and discussion. ... Read more

Book Description

?This is a book about the making of cities and the buildings that compose them. It is about the conditions under which an architect engaged in those activities now works, how those conditions evolved and why they are changing. It is about the qualities of life that are threatened by the ways cities are built at the beginning of the 21st century and intelligent response to those threats. It is about why the city planning ideas and the cultural cuisinart that came in the box with modern architecture are a lingering menace.?
?from Global City Blue.

Much of the architecture and town planning of the past fifty years has been based on an unsubstantiated optimism about the promise of modernity. In our rush to embrace the future, we invented new ways of building that rejected the past and sent people headlong into a placeless limbo where they are insulated from each other and cut off from such basic experiences of location as the weather and the time of day. Despite calamitous results, many architects and planners remain enamored of the modernist ideals that underlie these changes.

In Global City Blues, renowned architect Daniel Solomon presents a perceptive overview and an insightful assessment of how the power and seductiveness of modernist ideals led us astray. Through a series of independent but linked essays, he takes the reader on a personal picaresque, introducing us to people, places, and ideas that have shaped thinking about planning and building and that laid the foundation for his beliefs about the world we live in and the kind of world we should be making.

As an alternative, Solomon discusses the ideas and precepts of New Urbanism, a reform movement he helped found that has risen to prominence in the past decade. New Urbanism offers a vital counterbalance to the forces of sprawl, urban disintegration, and placelessness that have so transformed the contemporary landscape.

Global City Blues is a fresh and original look at what the history of urban form can teach us about creating built environments that work for people. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

a powerfully argued book
This author really states with such power and imagery how screwed up the modern world is. He describes the 'odorless gas of Modernist thinking' that has affected the way we design, plan and build that is anti-human and incredibly destructive to civilized living.
Great stuff. I couldn't put it down.

Why urban design matters
This is an interesting book about urban design. Mr Solomon explains how the way architecture and urban design have been taught has affected the built environment all over the world and why we need a new school of thought about making cities. The figures he describes as heroes are interesting.. Hopkins, Colin Rowe, some Chinese architect in Beijing, because they have resisted the forces of the media and current trends and have attempted something timeless. The book represents a personal journey by an architect who realizes there is something very wrong about the way our world is evolving but hasn't yet found the complete answer, only some clues as to another direction.
It is a pity there are not more illustrations.

Saying it like it is!
I found this book to be so refreshing. Daniel Solomon is an architect and urban designer who writes eloquently and passionately about how cities get built and the huge forces to be overcome if we are to regain civility and harmony with our environment. His writing is funny and perceptive, taking to task the pretensions of Modernist dogma and the way our profession has been taught for the last fifty years. He writes about the need for 'background architecture' to repair the urban fabric and the idea of urbanism as a way of looking at our built environment.
There are some fascinating stories about his home city of San Francisco and the fight to pull down the ugly urban freeways built during the 60's.
The book is essential reading for urban designers and policy makers and all who care about cities and how they are built. ... Read more

Book Description

This book pioneered the concept of townscape. 'Townscape' is the art of giving visual coherence and organization to the jumble of buildings, streets and space that make up the urban environment. It has been a major influence on architects, planners and others concerned with what cities should look like. ... Read more

Book Description

Do survival instincts have anything to do with our architectural choices-- our liking for a certain room, a special stairway, a plaza in a particular city? In this engaging study Grant Hildebrand discusses ways in which architectural forms emulate some archetypal settings that humans have found appealing--and useful to survival--from ancient times to the present.

Speculating that nature has 'designed' us to prefer certain conditions and experiences, Hildebrand is interested in how the characteristics of our most satisfying built environments mesh with Darwinian selection. In examining the appeal of such survival-based characteristics he cites architectural examples spanning five continents and five millennia.Among those included are the Palace of Minos, the Alhambra, Wells cathedral, the Shinto shrine at Ise, the Piazza San Marco, Brunelleschi's Pazzi Chapel, Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, a Seattle condominium, and recent houses by Eric Owen Moss and Arne Bystrom.

Just what characteristics bestow evolutionary benefits? 'Refuge and prospect' offer a protective place of concealment close to a foraging and hunting ground. 'Enticement' invites the safe exploration of an information-rich setting where worthwhile discoveries await. 'Peril' elicits an emotion of pleasurable fear and so tests and increases our competence in the face of danger: thus the attraction of a skyscraper or a house poised over a vertiginous ravine. 'Order and complexity' tease our intuitions for sorting complex information into survival-useful categories.

Gracefully written, with excellent illustrations that complement the text, Origins of Architectural Pleasure will open the reader's eyes to new ways of seeing a home, a workplace, a vacation setting, even a particular table in a restaurant. It also suggests important design considerations for buildings with a more pressing mandate for human appeal, such as hospitals, retirement homes, and hospices. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A very useful book
This book is both a call for better designed medium density housing and a source book on how to achieve that end. The great thing about this book is that it provides simple design and layout advice for housing projects based on detailed research and post occupancy evaluations. This book sets out what works in housing design. I think every planner or designer should have this book close at hand. ... Read more

Book Description

Peter Cook is a founder of Archigram, a collective of six architects known for architecture through drawing. "The City, Seen as a Garden of Ideas" is a survey of Cook's career-long project to reinvigorate the city. A series of mediations on contemporary urban conditions in cities as diverse as Tokyo, Edinburgh, and Santa Monica, this volume also functions as an informal memoir, at once lyrical and trenchant, in which Cook reveals the influences and motivations behind his seminal works and recent projects. A collection of projects and texts created especially for the monograph completes this compelling presentation. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Terrific!
Informative and comprehensive overview of a remarkable urbanistic/architectural restructuring of the most cosmopolitan Germanic city. One naturally tries to find a common denominator for this tremendeous creative undertaking but I find it striking that so many of these buildings actually represent the continuation of the European architectural modernism. The Modernism (or neo-modernism) taking a center stage once again to cap off the Century?

Detailed chronicle of Berlin's new architecture
I can only concur with the previous reviwer.

Having just returned from Berlin, fascinated and inspired as travellers to the German capital almost always are, I wanted to get a few books about some of the exciting new architecture that is going on there. This book was an excellent choice.

This is not a glossy picture book that you would put on your table, but there are certainly plenty of pictures and drawings. The text is just right for someone like me - that is, it does not assume I am an architect or engineer and is not written in highly detailed technical language, but neither is it written for an idiot.

This is a really good book for anyone who enjoys or is interested in Berlin's recent architecture. I spent several days savouring it.

A Great Guide to the new Berlin!
Berlin is a city that is in transformation. A city returning from division to greatness. While in Berlin, I was amazed at the rapid rate at which this city is transforming itself.

So much of former East Berlin has been resurrected from the communist architecture that plagued it for several decades. Freidrichstrasse is rebuild, there are gleaming office buildings around the former Checkpoint Charlie, The post 1989 noman's land that consumed the Brandenburg Gate and Pariser Platz is now full of live and buildings again, and the huge wasteland of Potsdammer Platz is now packet with stunning, altermodern buildings- including the magnficant Sony Center- a true architecture masterpiece.

This book chronicals the changes Berlin has undergone, and as chronicals many of the changes that are still in the works. With the exception of Alexander Platz (which renovation plans for just were approved recently).

Through wonderful pictures, models, and illustrations this book shows you the new Berlin.... and it also has wonderful descriptions for every building as well as location and what U or S line to take.

A great book showing the new Berlin. Beautifully done. ... Read more

Book Description

One of the great debates of our time concerns the predominant form of land use in America today - the all too familiar pattern of commercial and residential development known as sprawl. But what do we really know about sprawl? Do we know what it is? Where did it come from? Is it really so bad? If so, what are the alternatives? Can anything be done to make it better? The Limitless City offers an accessible examination of those and related questions. Oliver Gillham, an architect and planner with more than twenty-five years of experience in the field, considers the history and development of sprawl and examines current debates about the issue. The book:

• offers a comprehensive definition of sprawl in America
• traces the roots of sprawl and considers the factors that led to its preeminence as an urban and suburban form
• reviews both its negative impacts (loss of open space, increased pollution, gridlock) as well as its positive aspects (economic development, personal freedom, privacy)
• considers responses to sprawl including "smart growth," urban growth boundaries, regional planning, and the New Urbanism
• looks at what can be done to improve and counterbalance sprawl

Reviews (2)

somewhat balanced, unlike most books on the subject
The best and most unusual thing about this book is that it is more balanced than most: while most sprawl-related books are pure attacks or defenses (or are too superficial to adequately cover either side of the argument), Gillham gives a significant amount of space to the arguments, counter-arguments and counter-counter arguments on both sides (though on balance he is definitely more antisprawl than not). In addition, the book covers a wider range of issues than many sprawl related books; instead of being focused on quality of life issues (like most New Urbanist books are) or on environmental issues, Gillham goes into both. Also, Gillham discusses the political lineups on sprawl related issues: who's for changing the status quo, who defends sprawl and why.

The Limitless City
This book delivers a thorough, unbiased and thoughtful approach to the problem of sprawl. The issues are clearly defined and the myths debunked when necessary. After reading this book, one feels that the problems and potential solutions can be grasped. The writing is clear,and concise and draws the reader through the complexities of the issues. ... Read more

Book Description

An examination of how energy efficiency can be enhanced by integrating advances in architecture and engineering. Exploring the evolving relationship between architecture and engineering, this book examines the environmental function and performance of buildings in the twenty-first century. Critical studies of outstanding recent building projects around the world reveal the many innovative ways designers can integrate architecture and engineering to produce buildings that are both attractive and energy efficient. 180 color and 120 black-and-white illustrations. ... Read more

Book Description

People live in cities and experience them firsthand, whileurbandesigners explain cities conceptually. In Representation of Places PeterBosselmann takes on the challenging question of how designers cancommunicatethe changes they envision in order that "the rest of us" adequatelyunderstandhow those changes will affect our lives. New modes of imagingtechnologyfromtwo-dimensional maps, charts, and diagrams to computer modelsallowprofessionals to explain their designs more clearly than ever before.Althougharchitects and planners know how to read these representations, fewoutside theprofession can interpret them, let alone understand what it would belike towalk along the streets such representations describe. Yet decisions onwhat getsbuilt are significantly influenced by these very representations. Aportion ofBosselmann's book is based on innovative experiments conducted at theUniversityof California, Berkeley's Visual Simulation Laboratory. In a sectiontitled "TheCity in the Laboratory," he discusses how visual simulation was appliedtoprojects in New York City, San Francisco, and Toronto. The concerns thatBosselmann addresses have an impact on large segments of society, andlayreaders as well as professionals will find much that is useful in histimely,accessibly written book. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

spatial thinking in flattened space
i found this text to be a significant resource in thinking about practice and design, and their blending of intentions. using furniture as a medium for thinking about architectural space, the author identifies methodologies of investigation that are forward but readable. this book is not about furniture, it is about spatial movement, its architecture in the broad sense of spatiality. its a good resource for anyone interested in layering, trans-anything, and folding concepts. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

regardless language and format...
this is an excellent text. in my opinion indebted to historical analysis. the author gives great examples of cases and interrelations that city building has had during the years. from the neoclasical revival of greece under Othon's kingdom to the work of rossi. very influenced by the work of Benjamin and the "dialectics of seeing" the text is thought provoking, and that is in a critical way of how we experience the urban environment today. However, and again in my opinion, it is within the conclusion that the text fails to provide some answers to its proposed considerations on contemporary technology.

Language and format
The book is heavily indebted to French literary work of the 1960s...and this tends to overload its language in the direction of ponderousness...and a certain detachment from English....polysyllability was made for it...and a curiosity is that it was set up in Cochin and proofread apparently by a tone-deaf spellcheck program...so that 'bear' becomes 'bare,' and 'monastery' is transmuted into 'monestery...etc. It points to the enormous gap between academese and ordinary speech...which is a pity, because the book is nonetheless worth reading...and takes in a broad swathe of thought about the visible aspects of city and the ways in which this is transmuted and thinned-out in modern and post-modern decades. The distinction between 'memory' (i.e. a living tradition of sense and sensibility about space and its demarcations) and 'history' (a dead sense of record and mechanical or miscellaneous assembly) is grounded in the thought of Walter Benjamin...and rooted in the perceptual moralities of John Ruskin and Patrick Geddes. The book would only have been more useful had its polysyllables been (literally) translated into a prose that ebwhite or jamesthurber would have approved. ... Read more

Book Description

Modern Jerusalem is one of the most fascinating laboratories for urban development. These studies, conducted in 1980-1984 by teams of faculty, students, consultants, and advisors from the Jerusalem planning community and the Harvard Graduate School of Design, provide a unique sense of Jerusalem's natural and built environment, its livability, cultural diversity, and political and religious tensions. The more than 500 illustrations include contemporary plans and drawings as well as lithographs, engravings, and historical material that convey the special quality of the Holy City.

Moshe Safdie, who initiated and directed the Jerusalem studio, discusses the urban design program at Harvard in his introduction to the book. In the first three chapters, he traces Jerusalem's heritage, presents the Old City and its visual basin, and details projects for Damascus Gate (where "all the ingredients, problems, and opportunities that have made urban design a necessary activity are demonstrated").

The remaining chapters focus on the forces of change and how to plan for explosive growth in the new city outside the wall. They present plans for the downtown or central business district, the new satellite towns to the north and south, and the green belt surrounding the city. A final chapter returns to Damascus Gate and presents designs for the no-man's-land, (known as the Seam) outside it. This strategic parcel of land links the Arab and Israeli business districts and the Old City markets. Working with local communities and the municipality, three GSD graduates developed the design that was given the first Progressive Architecture Urban Design Award in 1985. So compelling was this proposal that the municipality intends to implement it.

The Jerusalem studio program was not only pedagogically significant but also of great practical value for the city of Jerusalem. The teams shed light on the opportunities and predicaments of a great historic city undergoing rapid growth and development and offered some brilliant design strategies. While the studies focus on Jerusalem, the issues they address - such as how new development can be made to harmonize with historic architecture and the impact that new commercial centers have on a strongly divided population - are relevant to many cities.

Moshe Safdie is Ian Woodner Studio Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at Harvard University, where he was Director of the Urban Design Program at the Graduate School of Design from 1978 to 1984. His previous books include Beyond Habitat, For Everyone a Garden, and Form and Purpose. ... Read more

Book Description

The City Assembled is a history of the elements of cities: streets, public places, urban divisions (religious, political, and social), and the frontiers of city and countryside.

Kostof follows the evolution of city components to modern times. He discusses "urban process": the effect on cities of natural disasters like the Great Fire of London and the Lisbon earthquake, war, and comprehensive redevelopment, compared with traditional patterns of growth and change. The current recovery from modernist extremes has made us look again at what we treasure in traditional urban life, and how we can recharge the old forms with contemporary common sense. Over 300 drawings, prints, paintings, and photographs help to tell the story, illustrating both patterns and uses, from the colonnaded streets of ancient Palmyra to gentrified London squares.

A fitting testament to the wide-ranging intellect of Professor Kostof, The City Assembled is at once an exercise in architectural and social history, a case study for the present, and a pointer for the future. 346 illustrations, 40 in color. ... Read more

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

Book Description

With increased awareness of the role of plans in shaping urban and suburban landscapes has come increased criticism of planners and the planning profession. Developers, politicians, and citizens alike blame "poor planning" for a host of community ills. But what are plans really supposed to do? How do they work? What problems can they successfully address, and what is beyond their scope? In Urban Development, leading planning scholar Lewis Hopkins tackles these thorny issues as he explains the logic of plans for urban development and justifies prescriptions about when and how to make them. He explores the concepts behind plans, some that are widely accepted but seldom examined, and others that modify conventional wisdom about the use and usefulness of plans. The book:

• places the role of plans and planners within the complex system of urban development
• offers examples from the history of plans and planning
• discusses when plans should be made (and when they should not be made)
• gives a realistic idea of what can be expected from plans
• examines ways of gauging the success or failure of plans

The author supports his explanations with graphics, case examples, and hypothetical illustrations that enliven, clarify, and make concrete the discussions of how decisions about plans are and should be made.

Urban Development will give all those involved with planning human settlements a more thorough understanding of why and how plans are made, enabling them to make better choices about using and making plans. It is an important contribution that will be essential for students and faculty in planning theory, land use planning, and planning project courses. ... Read more