Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
In Global City Blues, renowned architect Daniel Solomon presents a perceptive overview and insightful assessment of how the power and seductiveness of modernist ideals led us astray. As an alternative, Solomon discusses how architecture and cities can offer a vital counterbalance to the forces of sprawl, urban disintegration, and placelessness that have so transformed the contemporary landscape.Synopsis
As a founder of the New Urbanism, Solomon (emeritus, architecture, U. of California, Berkeley) offers personal essays and lessons from global case studies on the evolution of the movement's resistance to modernist town planning that does not take the human factor into account. Includes streetscape photos. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Library Journal
A founder of the Congress for the New Urbanism, architect Solomon (emeritus, Berkeley; ReBuilding) relates how post- World War II urban planning blighted our cities and turned the countryside into sprawl, then proposes his brand of New Urbanism as the fix. Solomon blames the Modernism of Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, et al., describing how its misguided principles and practices are now disfiguring cities around the globe. Like other big names in New Urbanism, such as Andres Duany and James Kunstler, Solomon believes in relearning the forgotten lessons of traditional city planning, but he also sympathizes with critics charging that the movement has spawned little more than overpriced subdivisions featuring quaint front porches. Solomon is intent on refashioning the existing "urban fabric." Shunning flashy architectural statements, he explains that "normative" buildings-the mix of ordinary housing, offices, stores, etc.-must be orchestrated to form streetscapes that encourage a vibrant and diverse urban lifestyle. Peter Calthorpe's New Urbanist manual, The Regional City, is more polished and persuasive than this collection of chatty, semi-autobiographical, loosely connected essays. Still, Global City Blues will energize architects, planners, and citizens working to revitalize ailing urban neighborhoods. For academic and large public libraries.-David Solt sz, Cuyahoga Cty. P.L., Parma, OH Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.