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Bezig met laden... City Life: Urban Expectations In A New World (1995)door Witold Rybczynski
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Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. witold writes about urban planning with an ease and grace that defies most writers of much simpler subjects. i picked up this gem on an overstocked table in denver and when i got home found out it was a signed copy! yay me. in addition, it's a very well-written book that nicely compares the american urban evolutionary path to the european -- but not in an overly judgemental way. Over a dozen years ago Rybczynski's book City Life made me care about urban planning. He introduced me to the concept that cities, like living things, evolve. American cities are the way they are for a reason; we adapt where we live to how we live. And because we live differently from Europeans, Africans and Asians - our cities are different from theirs. Just like there are layers of complexity to the natural world , the same is true of the man- made. Rybczynski describes the American city in its many incarnations - New York, Chicago, D.C., Boston, etc. He points out the connections that aren't always obvious to the rest of us. For example, when Alexis de Tocqueville came to America in 1831 all was not as he expected. ' He had read James Fenimore Cooper's novels set in the wilderness, and he anticipated that a nation that included pioneering settlers as well as urban patricians would display cultural extremes even more striking than those between the rustic French provinces and the sophisticated capitale. A travel essay he published describes how a visit to the frontier (present day Michigan) confounded his expectations. "When you leave the main roads your force your way down barely trodden paths. Finally, you see a field cleared, a cabin made from half-shaped tree trunks admitting light though only one narrow window only. You think that you have at last reached the home of the American peasant. Mistake. You make your way into this cabin that seems the asylum of all wretchedness but the owner of the place is dressed in the same clothes as yours and he speaks the language of towns. On his rough table are books and newspapers; he himself is anxious to know what is happening in Europe and asks you to tell him w hat has most struck you in his country." Toqueville continued: "One might think one was meeting a rich landowner who had come to spend just a few nights in a hunting lodge." ' This national "urbanity" was due largely to the fact that the majority of early Americans dispersed into the wilderness (later into the suburbs) from cities/urban centers. The reverse was true in Europe - the more established peasant class often making their way into the big cities from the countryside. So, a defining aspect of the American character and culture is directly linked to how the country was geographically settled.... For a longer review, please go to BookSexy.wordpress.com geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
In City Life, Witold Rybczynski looks at what we want from cities, how they have evolved, and what accounts for their unique identities. In this vivid description of everything from the early colonial settlements to the advent of the skyscraper to the changes wrought by the automobile, the telephone, the airplane, and telecommuting, Rybczynski reveals how our urban spaces have been shaped by the landscapes and lifestyles of the New World. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)711.4The arts Area planning and landscape architecture Area planning (Civic art) Local community planning (City planning)LC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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Eventually the title seemed too simplistic. Perhaps it should have been City Life from an Architect's Point of View. At the end of the book the author's biases became very clear. He praises the small town which he defines as having a population of about 10,000. Really? I think of a small town as having a population of 50,000 to 100,000. Yes this is worth reading. Just expect to feel hungry at the end. ( )