Architecture : Urban & Land Use Planning

An exploration of urbanism, personal identity, and how the space we live in shapes us. According to philosopher and cultural critic Mark Kingwell, the transnational global city—New York and Shanghai—is the most significant machine our species has ever produced. And yet, he says, we fail again and again to understand it. How do cities shape us, and how do we shape them? That is the subject of Concrete Reveries , which investigates how we occupy city space and why place is so important to who we are. Kingwell explores the sights, smells, and forms of the city, reflecting on how they mold our notions of identity, the limits of social and political engagement, and our moral obligations as citizens. He offers a critique of the monumental architectural supermodernism in which buildings are valued more for their exteriors than for what is inside, as well as some lively writing on the significance of threshold structures like doorways, lobbies, and porches and the kinds of emotional attachments we form to ballparks, carnival grounds, and gardens. In the process, he gives us a whole new set of models and metaphors for thinking about the city. With a spectacular interior design and more than seventy-five photos, Concrete Reveries will appeal to fans of Jane Jacobs, Witold Rybczynski, and Alain de Botton’s The Architecture of Happiness . more...

Price: $24.95

'Brilliant! This thoughtful and illuminating book fills a significant gap in urban design literature and is a must-have reference book for anyone concerned with the creation or management of the public realm.' Michele Lavelle Partner in 4D Landscape Design 'A book rich in good practices noted by a traveller and teacher with the hawk-eye of an architect and photographer. ' Tobias Woldendorp Senior CPTED Consultant at DSP-groep Amsterdam. 'A welcome addition to the literature of urban design placemaking.' Joe Holyoak Course Director MA Urban Design Birmingham City University Despite developments in urban design during the last few decades architects urban planners and designers often continue to produce areas of bland commercially led urban fabric that deliver the basic functional requirements of shelter work and leisure but are socially unsustainable and likely generators of future problems. Convivial Urban Spaces demonstrates that successful urban public spaces are an essential part of a sustainable built environment. Without them we are likely to drift into an increasingly private and polarized society with all the problems that would imply. Taking a multidisciplinary approach this book draws on research and the literature and theory of environmental psychology and urban design to advance our understanding of what makes effective public spaces. Practical guidance is illustrated with case studies from the UK Spain Germany and Italy. The result is a practical and clearly presented guide to urban public space for planners architects and students of the urban environment. more...

Price: $78.00

The cultural and creative industries have become increasingly prominent on many policy agendas. Offering both Asian and European experiences, this volume shows the differences between them, and thus allows comparisons. more...

Price: $139.00

This volume considers the making of settlement as a process of identity formation. Taking the position that a culture signifies a way of life, it asks how cultural frameworks inform patterns of settlement, and how the built environment, as process and design, conditions cultural production and reception. The disciplinary fields this intersects include architecture, urban design, sociology, cultural and human geography, cultural studies and critical theory. Contributors work in a range of such fields, in Europe and Latin America. more...

Price: $10.00

This book presents a set of selected and edited papers presented at the 2nd and 3rd Design and Decision Support Conference. The purpose is to provide examples of innovative research in decision support systems in urban planning from more...

Price: $195.00