No comments about Urban Containment In The United States: History, Models, And Techniques For Regional And Metropoli-tan Growth....

2 comments about Jerusalem Architecture.

1. David Kroyanker has written a scholarly survey of architecture for the 3000-some years of Jerusalem's history. Perhaps more importantly for most of its audience, it is also a beautiful album of 700 photographs and illustrations, perfect for perusal on an end table or display stand. Even for those residents and tourists who have ready access to the city's neighbourhoods and ancient monuments, its bird's-eye views and snapshots from inside some of its exclusive places of worship are refreshing and educational.

   This is not primarily a history book, although one will learn much of the history of various kingdoms who have conquered the city and contributed to its architecture. There is emphasis on the fascinating recycling of stones and decorations through the centuries.

   Jerusalem has a certain mythology to it, and this work will help to add reality to the imaginary status many have given to the Holy City. It is also not a book that champions any particular religious cause. It simply the facts. Toward this end, consider the introduction on the inside jacket: "Jerusalem, ancient city sacred to Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike, is an architectural wonder with a history of building that extends over three thousand years. It is also a living, vital city -- the New Jerusalem, capital of a modern state...." These are the facts. One also cannot avoid the fact that the State of Israel is responsible for renovating and revitalisating its Old City districts, which were following into ruin until the 20th century. One should, in comparison, take a brief look at the editorial reviews on this page, and one will notice some peculiar editing being practiced. Notice anything missing?

   Finally, I would like to mention that it will be clear to the reader of this work that Jerusalem is NOT a "mecca", as entry is forbidden to noone based on race or religious affiliation. All are welcome in this city that is the centre of the world.




2. Jerusalem, the one city that is sacred to Jews, Christians, and Muslims is mecca for many. Not the least of its wonders is its building, which has occurred over 3,000 years.

   This coffee table volume beautifully presents both the historic old city and the bustling metropolis in a series of remarkable photographs, maps, and drawings.

   Beginning with the remains of the First Temple Period and continuing to Jerusalem's modern age that began in the 1850s, this unparalleled place is brought to vivid life.

   Especially in light of what is happening theree today this is a volume to be treasured.

No comments about Urban Planning in Europe.

No comments about Patrick Geddes: Social Evolutionist and City Planner (Routledge Geography, Environment, and Planning Series).

No comments about Cities People Planet: Urban Development and Climate Change.

No comments about Architecture, Technology and Process.

No comments about Skycar City (MVRDV) (MVRDV) (MVRDV).

No comments about Beyond Benefit Cost Analysis: Accounting For Non-market Values In Planning Evaluation (Urban Planning and Environment).

5 comments about Global City Blues.

1. Professional architect Daniel Solomon presents Global City Blues, a passionate and sharply worded warning against the harm that modernist architectural ideals can cause at the expense of city places constructed with the goal of creating community and fellowship. Chapters discuss the importance of style, "Why the City is Not a Work of Art", the massive impact of technology upon architecture, and much more. Written especially for current and aspiring city architects and architectural planners, Global City Blues combines theory with practicality in search of the highest goal - creating places that foster lasting bonds between people, rather than simply serving as flashy showcases.



2. Although Solomon is a New Urbanist, his book is far less nuts-and-bolts than other prominent New Urbanist books such as Duany's Suburban Nation. Instead, Solomon has written a group of short, data-light, footnote-free essays on architecture and urban planning.
   
   Some of the essays were quite educational. I especially liked his efforts to explain the mentality of modernist architects and planners. For example, he points out that even though the Craftsman bungalows that dominated early 20th-century America delivered beautiful public spaces, their kitchens were "dark and segregated." By contrast, 1950s architects sought to make houses lighter and airier, but neglected public space.
   
   Their ideological heirs, the 21st-century "starchitects" tend to be from Los Angeles, a place that "teaches an architect to survive in, even to revel in, a world that is disjointed, irredeemably ugly to many outsiders, and far beyond the normal kind of civic grace that cities have aspired to." And because they are used to ugly streets, they are not so interested in creating buildings that engage with the street or neighborhood around them. By contrast, Solomon is from San Francisco, a place that teaches architects that urbanity still works.
   
   He also speculates that the urban renewal-induced destruction of American cities had a psychological cause: young men who served in World War II had "an absolutely unprecedented and life-forming experience of competence" during their military service, and thus were "ready to build the world anew." But Solomon admits that some of the intellectual ammunition behind postwar sprawl was built earlier: for example, R.G. Tugwell, part of Franklin Roosevelt's "brain trust" suggested something very similar in 1935: "[go] outside centers of population, pick up cheap land, build a whole community and entice people to go into it. Then go back into the cities and tear down whole slums and make parks of them."
   
   And Solomon also explains the psychology of New Urbanism, pointing out that New Urbanism, unlike environmentalism, is not motivated primarily by concern over dirty air of global warming, but by the desire to recreate "the quality of experience", to create places where we can connect with the world around us.
   
   An environmentalist's list of necessary attributes of a good place might include hybrid cars or solar power; Solomon's list includes "places to walk", "encounters with others, particularly others who are different", "real air", and "knowledge of what town you're in and where you are in town". Where these elements are missing, people have no reason to go outside, and nothing but a "steady unrelenting diet" of indoor technology (internet, TV, air conditioning, etc.) that makes it difficult for people to distinguish between the virtual world of media experience and the real world of direct experience. (Thus the absurd spectacle of people mourning for dead celebrities such as Princess Diana).
   
   However, some of Solomon's glittering, unsupported generalizations are not so persuasive - for example, his suggestion that Mohammed Atta's hostility towards America was a reaction to "world tourism".



3. I question the premise of the books criticism.
   
   One cannot blame the inadequacies of the modern city on one or two architects (Le Corbusier or Mies van der Rohe). Those revolutionary architects were purely responding the changing environment that surrounded them; namely the industrial revolution.
   
   To continue to construct buildings and plan communities as they were a thousand years ago would be akin to using wax paper for windows and traveling via horse (as Solomon suggests). Fortunately technology does indeed affect us all and Architects have a responsibility to respond to it accordingly.
   
   I do agree that there are numerous problems with today's cities but turning the clock back to more idealistic times is not the answer, as the self proclaimed "New Urbanists" say.



4. Solomon's book was just the tonic I needed to regain my faith in the real value of the design professions. I had begun to despair that I was the only person who found the Prada posing of Rem Koolhaas and his ilk reminded me ever so much of the children's story "The Emperor's New Clothes." Solomon is apparently another like-minded soul, though his book touches on so much more than the soulless modernism that pervades the design professsion (esp. the academy and the press) today. A committed urbanist, Solomon attempts to show that a very few showoff buildings may have their place in a city, but that a city cannot be made of Frank Gehry monuments. And most especially not of imitation Frank Gehry monuments! He writes with wit, passion, and clarity, three qualities that are often in short supply in tomes by architects. Major kudos to the author, and a strong "buy" recommendation to the reader.



5. 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.

1 comments about The Urban Oasis: Guideways and Greenways in the Human Environment.

1. This book is an easy read. It covers technical subjects succinctly with easily understood definitions, descriptions and diagrams. It starts with a statement of how today's urban/suburban situation arose and moves into very practical approaches to dealing with the problems. Ms. Warren's work comes across as one of a level headed, experienced urban architect with a lucid point of view. She is clearly an important heir to the Jane Jacobs legacy and extends the urgency to deal with the situation to a new generation of students.