The Urban Design Reader

Description

The second edition of The Urban Design Reader draws together the very best of classic and contemporary writings to illuminate and expand the theory and practice of urban design. Nearly 50 generous selections include seminal contributions from Howard, Le Corbusier, Lynch, and Jacobs to more recent writings by Waldheim, Koolhaas, and Sorkin. Following the widespread success of the first edition of The Urban Design Reader, this updated edition continues to provide the most important historical material of the urban design field, but also introduces new topics and selections that address the myriad challenges facing designers today. The six part structure of the second edition guides the reader through the history, theory and practice of urban design. The reader is initially introduced to those classic writings that provide the historical precedents for city-making into the twentieth century. Part Two introduces the voices and ideas that were instrumental in establishing the foundations of the urban design field from the late 1950s up to the mid-1990s. These authors present a critical reading of the design professions and offer an alternative urban design agenda focused on vital and lively places. The authors in Part Three provide a range of urban design rationales and strategies for reinforcing local physical identity and the creation of memorable places. These selections are largely describing the outcomes of mid-century urban design and voicing concerns over the placeless quality of contemporary urbanism. The fourth part of the Reader explores key issues in urban design and development. Ideas about sprawl, density, community health, public space and everyday life are the primary focus here. Several new selections in this part of the book also highlight important international development trends in the Middle East and China. Part Five presents environmental challenges faced by the built environment professions today, including recent material on landscape urbanism, sustainability, and urban resiliency. The final part examines professional practice and current debates in the field: where urban designers work, what they do, their roles, their fields of knowledge and their educational development. The section concludes with several position pieces and debates on the future of urban design practice. This book provides an essential resource for students and practitioners of urban design, drawing together important but widely dispersed writings. Part and section introductions are provided to assist readers in understanding the context of the material, summary messages, impacts of the writing, and how they fit into the larger picture of the urban design field. Cover Title Copyright Dedication Contents List of plates Acknowledgments Prologue PART ONE: HISTORICAL PRECEDENTS IN URBAN DESIGN Introduction to Part One “Upsurge of the Renaissance” “The Islamic City: Historic Myths, Islamic Essence, and Contemporary Relevance” “The Family of Eyes” and “The Mire of the Macadam” “Public Parks and the Enlargement of Towns” “The Meager and Unimaginative Character of Modern City Plans” and “Artistic Limitations of Modern City Planning” “Author’s Introduction” and “The Town–Country Magnet” “Ideology and Aesthetics” “The Neighborhood Unit” “The Pack-Donkey’s Way and Man’s Way” and “A Contemporary City” PART TWO: FOUNDATIONS OF THE FIELD Introduction to Part Two “Josep Lluís Sert’s Urban Design Legacy” “Introduction to The Concise Townscape” “The Image of the Environment” and “The City Image and Its Elements” “Author’s Introduction” and “The Uses of Sidewalks: Contact” “A City is Not a Tree” “The Significance of A&P Parking Lots, or Learning from Las Vegas” “Collage City” “Introduction,” “The Life of Plazas,” “Sitting Space,” and, “Sun, Wind, Trees, and Water” “Conclusion: Great Streets and City Planning” “Toward an Urban Design Manifesto” “Dimensions of Performance” “A Catholic Approach to Organizing What Urban Designers Should Know” PART THREE: GROWTH OF A PLACE AGENDA Introduction to Part Three “Prospects for Places” “The Phenomenon of Place” “The Problem of Place in America” “Critical Regionalism: An Architecture of Place” “A Crisis in the Urban Landscape,” “The Origins and Theory of Type,” and “Legitimacy and Control” “Charter of the New Urbanism” “Themes of Postmodern Urbanism” “Introduction,” “Preface: The Current State of Everyday Urbanism,” and “Blurring the Boundaries: Public Space and Private Life” “The Generic City” and “Whatever Happened to Urbanism?” PART FOUR: DESIGN ISSUES IN URBAN DEVELOPMENT Introduction to Part Four “What is Sprawl?” “Density in Communities, or the Most Important Factor in Building Urbanity” “Introduction,” “Physical Activity and Public Health,” and “Urban Design Characteristics” “Introduction,” “The Changing Nature of Public Space in City Centres,” and “Whose Public Space?” “Profit and Place” “Urban Dualities in the Arab World: From a Narrative of Loss to Neo-Liberal Urbanism” “The Urbanism of Ambition” and “China Reinvents the City” PART FIVE: ADDRESSING ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES Introduction to Part Five “An Ecological Method for Landscape Architecture” “Principles for Regional Design” “Landscape as Urbanism” “Discourses for Landscape and Urbanization,” “The Production of Waste Landscape,” and “Drosscape Explained” “Planning for Sustainability in European Cities: A Review of Practice in Leading Cities” “Urban Resilience: Cities of Fear and Hope” PART SIX: URBAN DESIGN PRACTICE NOW AND TOMORROW Introduction to Part Six “Where and How Does Urban Design Happen?” “Designing the Urban Design Studio” “Design Guidelines in American Cities: Conclusions” “The End(s) of Urban Design” “A Third Way for Urban Design” Epilogue Illustration credits Editorial credits Copyright information Index