Design Of Cities, Revised Edition (A Studio Book)

Design of Cities, Revised Edition (A Studio Book)

From dust jacket notes: "Design of Cities, praised by critics as the most significant and comprehensive study ever made of the historical development of the modern city, has now been revised and enlarged. In forty new pages of text and color illustrations, Edmund N. Bacon seeks to communicate the forces behind his work as a city planner and the processes that result in construction on the ground....The author's thesis that city design is a people's art leads him to urge that citizens should have a role in the development of the three-dimensional plans in the initial stages of a city-planning project. This provision for democratic feedback or review is also important for the designer, to assure that his plans really meet the needs of the people. That the center of cities should and can be pleasant places in which to live, work, and relax is illustrated in the photographs of such cities as Rotterdam and Stockholm. The author cites the work in his own city of Philadelphia, in which historic buildings worthy of preservation mingle with twentieth-century structures, and where provision is made for both pedestrians and automobiles in the city center. In examining the work of great architects and planners such as Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, Sixtus V, and Sir Christopher Wren, the author shows how any great work can influence subsequent development and can be continued by later generations. He analyzes the revolutionary ideas of Le Corbusier, with their effect on a city such as Chandigarh, and takes a close look at Brasilia and the work of Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer. The author emphasizes that the artist can help one to understand the basic principles in city design, and he draws on the work of Paul Klee for many stimulating examples."