11/02/2015
This survey of prominent architectural trends through the 19th and 20th centuries serves as a concise historical primer of mainly American urban development, though it fails to live up to some of the promises Graham makes early on (American Eden); he is a versatile writer whose enthusiasm can’t quite tie the book together. When Graham writes that “architectures are expressions of the desires of their designers and builders: these forms intend to shape people and thus shape the world,” he sets up a goal that may be too lofty to meet through the history of different styles and their leading architectural proponents. Graham’s precise encapsulations of architects’ biographies and philosophies hit the relevant highlights with a lively, accessible style; he deftly captures Bertram Goodhue, a prominent borrower of neoclassical styles whose ideas informed the Art Deco movement, and the rural utopianism of Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision. The author is less convincing when he argues for the lasting impact of the New Urbanism approach or the Japanese-influenced Metabolism movement, among other innovations, in brief sections that fail to go beyond mentions of the most representative buildings. An exception is his examination of the influence of the shopping mall and how Victor Gruen’s take on shopping centers was first adapted cheaply, then transformed by James Rouse to create highly successful “festival marketplaces” such as San Francisco’s Ghirardelli Square and Boston’s Faneuil Hall. His assertion that a place has “the ability to trigger aesthetic emotion” and “can reinvigorate cities” reaches beyond biography and addresses the wider effects of architectural change. 59 b&w photos. (Jan.)
Landscape designer and historian Wade Graham follows the acclaimed American Eden with a lively, accessible cultural history of modern cities-from suburbs, downtown districts, and exurban sprawl, to shopping malls and “sustainable” developments-seen through the lens of planning, design, and the architects and movements behind them.
Dream Cities explores our cities in a new way-as expressions of ideas, often conflicting, about how we should live, work, play, make, buy, and believe. It tells the stories of the real architects and thinkers whose imagined cities became the blueprints for the world we live in.
From the nineteenth century to today, what began as visionary concepts-sometimes utopian, sometimes outlandish, always controversial-were gradually adopted and constructed on a massive scale in cities around the world, from Dubai to Ulan Bator to London to Los Angeles. Wade Graham uses the lives of the pivotal dreamers behind these concepts, as well as their acolytes and antagonists, to deconstruct our urban landscapes-the houses, towers, civic centers, condominiums, shopping malls, boulevards, highways, and spaces in between-exposing the ideals and ideas embodied in each.
From the baroque fantasy villages of Bertram Goodhue to the superblocks of Le Corbusier's Radiant City to the pseudo-agrarian dispersal of Frank Lloyd Wright's Broadacre City, our upscale leafy suburbs, downtown skyscraper districts, infotainment-driven shopping malls, and “sustainable” eco-developments are seen as never before. In this book, Graham uncovers the original plans of brilliant, obsessed, and sometimes megalomaniacal designers, revealing the foundations of today's varied municipalities. Dream Cities is nothing less than a field guide to our modern urban world.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
Landscape designer and historian Wade Graham follows the acclaimed American Eden with a lively, accessible cultural history of modern cities-from suburbs, downtown districts, and exurban sprawl, to shopping malls and “sustainable” developments-seen through the lens of planning, design, and the architects and movements behind them.
Dream Cities explores our cities in a new way-as expressions of ideas, often conflicting, about how we should live, work, play, make, buy, and believe. It tells the stories of the real architects and thinkers whose imagined cities became the blueprints for the world we live in.
From the nineteenth century to today, what began as visionary concepts-sometimes utopian, sometimes outlandish, always controversial-were gradually adopted and constructed on a massive scale in cities around the world, from Dubai to Ulan Bator to London to Los Angeles. Wade Graham uses the lives of the pivotal dreamers behind these concepts, as well as their acolytes and antagonists, to deconstruct our urban landscapes-the houses, towers, civic centers, condominiums, shopping malls, boulevards, highways, and spaces in between-exposing the ideals and ideas embodied in each.
From the baroque fantasy villages of Bertram Goodhue to the superblocks of Le Corbusier's Radiant City to the pseudo-agrarian dispersal of Frank Lloyd Wright's Broadacre City, our upscale leafy suburbs, downtown skyscraper districts, infotainment-driven shopping malls, and “sustainable” eco-developments are seen as never before. In this book, Graham uncovers the original plans of brilliant, obsessed, and sometimes megalomaniacal designers, revealing the foundations of today's varied municipalities. Dream Cities is nothing less than a field guide to our modern urban world.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
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Dream Cities: Seven Urban Ideas That Shape the World
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Dream Cities: Seven Urban Ideas That Shape the World
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Product Details
BN ID: | 2940160451923 |
---|---|
Publisher: | HarperCollins |
Publication date: | 06/18/2024 |
Edition description: | Unabridged |
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