Urban & Land Use Planning Books

The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Modern Library Series)

Amazon Price: $14.93 List Price: $21.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Modern Library Amazon Marketplace: 40 new & used starting at $12.20

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Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> History & Criticism -> Criticism & Theory -> General AAS
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> History & Criticism -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 64 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

It'll make a city slicker out of the most ardent farm boy 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book will give you a reason to want to go visit the city, or to go out and get into the city you already live in. Her reference to the "ballet of the sidewalks" gives a whole new twist to what is going on in a busy downtown. City planners, take note!

Editorial Review:

Thirty years after its publication, The Death and Life of Great American Cities was described by The New York Times as "perhaps the most influential single work in the history of town planning....[It] can also be seen in a much larger context. It is first of all a work of literature; the descriptions of street life as a kind of ballet and the bitingly satiric account of traditional planning theory can still be read for pleasure even by those who long ago absorbed and appropriated the book's arguments." Jane Jacobs, an editor and writer on architecture in New York City in the early sixties, argued that urban diversity and vitality were being destroyed by powerful architects and city planners. Rigorous, sane, and delightfully epigrammatic, Jacobs's small masterpiece is a blueprint for the humanistic management of cities. It is sensible, knowledgeable, readable, indispensable. The author has written a new foreword for this Modern Library edition.

A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Center for Environmental Structure Series)

Christopher Alexander

Amazon Price: $40.95 List Price: $65.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Oxford University Press, USA Amazon Marketplace: 77 new & used starting at $31.08

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 78 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

surprisingly religious..... interesting, but not believable 3 out of 5 stars.
13 of 19 people found this review helpful.

I bought this book after reading the glowing reviews on amazon. It was also an inspiration for Will Wright to make SimCity and the SIMS..... so I had high expectations.

I was shocked to find how opinionated and philosophical the book is. I expected the book to look at the history of cities, towns, etc. and describe patterns that already exist (much like the GoF's software design patterns book talks about patterns that people actually use). Instead the book presents a series of ideals about how the world should be structured.

If these ideals came from concerns I could identify with, I would take it more seriously. But instead they attack "problems" which I do not perceive to exist. For example, on p. 43 "The homogeneous and undifferentiated character of modern cities kills all variety of life styles and arrest the growth of individual character." This statement is contrary to my experience. I have met many great characters from cities, and seen profound cultural differentiation emerge from cities (e.g. jazz, abstract painting, hippie culture, punk, you name it). But the authors proceed as if cities killing character is axiomatic. I agree that there is a rural character that is not present in cities. But citydwellers have another type of character which is equally valid.

I have only made it through the first 100 pages. In these pages are so many naive ideas about mixing cityspace and vacant space. I live in Los Angeles so I know about sprawl & I also know a lot about cars -- while they are aiming for less sprawl then LA, they also neglect traffic congestion. They claim that making small roads in places make people reluctant to drive there.... the experience worldwide (worst in Malaysia, I hear) is that people use whatever roads are present, and if the roads are small, they then just end up sitting in traffic. The author's are naive in their structuring of space, nowhere do they cite any hard evidence of how these structures function.

I might make it the rest of the way through.... at least it's an easy read, with so many repetitions in how the models work you can kinda skim through it. I like the spirit of the book, it is reminiscent of P.M.'s bolo'bolo.... but where bolo'bolo comes from a purely emotional position, these authors take themselves seriously and believe what they are saying is objectively true. I give the book 3 stars because it is nice to see someone work through the ideas of bolo'bolo (which was actually written ~6yrs after alexander's book). I would give 5 stars to a book that did so by looking more at actual data of how spaces are utilized, and presented designs that didn't have obvious flaws in them.

Editorial Review:

"Brilliant....Here's how to design or redesign any space you're living or working in--from metropolis to room. Consider what you want to happen in the space, and then page through this book. Its radically conservative observations will spark, enhance, organize your best ideas, and a wondrous home, workplace, town will result"--San Francisco Chronicle. This classic handbook presents a language which ordinary people can use to express themselves in their own communities or homes, and to better communicate with each other.

The Architecture of Happiness

Alain de Botton

By: Hamish Hamilton Amazon Marketplace: 4 new & used starting at $12.95

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 36 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Opens doors to creative thought 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

The Architecture of Happiness, written by Alain de Botton, outlines the historical evolution of architecture over the past century and the reciprocal effects that architectural surroundings may have on one's mood and overall outlook in life. The author offers an in-depth exploration of the cultural, political, and social influences which have been important in shaping the evolution of architectural design.

The book begins with a discussion about the relative historical and political factors that have influenced the appearance of architectural design. He also offers an in-depth look at how the details of one's surroundings can subtly influence one's feelings about the environment and the self. In choosing or designing one's environment, he philosophizes that one chooses a reflection of his or her ideal self, or internal world.

The psychological interpretations made by the author are mostly subjective and philosophically based, without any empirical research being used to support his opinions. Some of the reasoning that the author uses to support the importance of architectural details seems fundamentally flawed. For example, he uses the importance of one millimeter's difference in the human lip to explain how important architectural detail is to a building. However, the human ability to recognize slight differences in human faces is a survival mechanism that enables us to differentiate each of the billions of faces that exist in the world, and it is not likely that this capability generalizes to building architecture.

The writing style and lexicon in this book make for an informative read, but may be difficult to absorb by those looking for entertainment. Readers with professional careers in architecture, art history, or philosophy, may find that this book opens the door to creative thought about the connection between one's environment and psychological factors.

Armchair Interviews says: Book most important to someone in the architectural field.

Editorial Review:

John Ruskin proposed that every good building must do two things: it must shelter us, but it must also speak to us. In this beautiful book, Alain de Botton poses the following question: what do we want our buildings to talk about? Tackling the questions of architecture and interior design at a new and deserved level of philosophical depth, "The Architecture of Happiness" takes us on a riveting journey through Western and Eastern aesthetics. The issues surrounding the decoration of our own homes touch on major questions at the heart of the philosophy of art - what is beautiful? Are beauty and goodness related? Can beauty bring happiness?

Architecture : Space, Form and Order

Francis D. K. Ching

By: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated Amazon Marketplace: 34 new & used starting at $1.50

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 35 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

James 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is an invaluable reference for architecture students and professionals alike. Ching's illustrations are amazing and the depth of information presented is incredible. I highly recommend this book.

Ching books are great! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

It was wrapped and in perfect condition. It's nice to look at and gives inspiration through the illustrations.

Great price! Fast shipping. 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I can't believe how much cheaper I can find books online compared to what the college bookstores charge!

Great book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Item was delivered in perfect shape and in a decent amount of time

Contents have helped in this last project a bunch

Great book

Great book with great insight. 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I've had this book for a while now. It should be a staple for any young, budding architect and the principles contained within are examples of what make architecture different from engineering.

Great book by a great author.

S M L XL: Second Edition

Rem Koolhaas, Bruce Mau, Hans Werlemann

Amazon Price: $53.55 List Price: $85.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Monacelli Press Amazon Marketplace: 41 new & used starting at $33.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

S,M,L,XL presents a selection of the remarkable visionary design work produced by the Dutch firm Office for Metropolitan Architecture (O.M.A.) and its acclaimed founder, Rem Koolhaas, in its first twenty years, along with a variety of insightful, often poetic writings. The inventive collaboration between Koolhaas and designer Bruce Mau is a graphic overture that weaves together architectural projects, photos and sketches, diary excerpts, personal travelogues, fairy tales, and fables, as well as critical essays on contemporary architecture and society.

The book's title is also its framework: projects and essays are arranged according to scale. While Small and Medium address issues ranging from the domestic to the public, Large focuses on what Koolhaas calls "the architecture of Bigness." Extra-Large features projects at the urban scale, along with the important essay "What Ever Happened to Urbanism?" and other studies of the contemporary city. Running throughout the book is a "dictionary" of an adventurous new Koolhaasian language -- definitions, commentaries, and quotes from hundreds of literary, cultural, artistic, and architectural sources.

The Works: Anatomy of a City

Kate Ascher

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Ultimate coffee table/nightstand/waiting room book 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Induldge your inner nerd and buy this book. The sections are well laid out with excellent and clear graphics and the sections are small enough that you (or your visitors) can either take one bite at a time or just browse through the thing till you find something that interests you (and you will). Describes detail in a way that's accessable to everyone and without getting tedious. My wait at the dentist's office would fly by with something like this to while away the time.

Editorial Review:

A fascinating guided tour of the ways things work in a modern city

Have you ever wondered how the water in your faucet gets there? Where your garbage goes? What the pipes under city streets do? How bananas from Ecuador get to your local market? Why radiators in apartment buildings clang? Using New York City as its point of reference, The Works takes readers down manholes and behind the scenes to explain exactly how an urban infrastructure operates. Deftly weaving text and graphics, author Kate Ascher explores the systems that manage water, traffic, sewage and garbage, subways, electricity, mail, and much more. Full of fascinating facts and anecdotes, The Works gives readers a unique glimpse at what lies behind and beneath urban life in the twenty-first century.

Peter Zumthor Thinking Architec*OP*

Princeton Arch Staff

List Price: $25.00 By: Lars Muller Amazon Marketplace: 3 new & used starting at $873.70

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

clear thinker and builder 5 out of 5 stars.
21 of 21 people found this review helpful.

Reading this book was like reading a long-lost secret manual of
"How to become a 21 century Samurai..." I guess that sense of delusion rises because the content and the tone of book has this (quasi) idea of medieval perfection achieved through a repetition of hands-on practice. "I do not work towards architecture from a theoretically defined point of departure, for I am committed to making architecture,," writes Zumthor.

Moreover, a reader, at the back of her/his head, has those powerful images of Bath House in Vaals (tour de force of phenomenological experience) that intensifies the delusion. One would think, 'Zumthor must be a man from Mars to build architecture like that' and 'his writings must be a strong sleeping pill.' Usual Suspect !

He writes extremely clear with extremely simple terms. This slim book tells us how an architect of such originality thinks and experiences daily life. It's a great pleasure to find out what kind of music (Mozart's piano concertos) zumthor listens; what kind of artists (Beuys and Merz) he likes; what kind of film he watches (Ettore Scola's film Le Bal); what kind of books (Calvino) he reads; and what kind of sayings ("the hard core beauty") in the radio show captivates him. A former cabinet maker, his book is carefully jointed, just like his buildings. Anyone who found this book fun/inspiring to read should also try Alvaro Siza's "Writings on Architecture"

Editorial Review:

The creative act in which a work of architecture comes into being is beyond all historical and technical knowledge. Its focus is on the dialogue with the issues of the time. At the moment of its creation, architecture is bound to the present in a very special way. It reflects the spirit of its inventor and gives its own answers to the questions of the time through its user-oriented form and appearance, its relationship with other works of architecture, and its association with the place where it stands.

Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan

Rem Koolhaas

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Since its original publication in 1978, Delirious New York has attained mythic status. Back in print in a newly designed edition, this influential cultural, architectural, and social history of New York is even more popular, selling out its first printing on publication. Rem Koolhaas's celebration and analysis of New York depicts the city as a metaphor for the incredible variety of human behavior. At the end of the nineteenth century, population, information, and technology explosions made Manhattan a laboratory for the invention and testing of a metropolitan lifestyle -- "the culture of congestion" -- and its architecture.

"Manhattan," he writes, "is the 20th century's Rosetta Stone . . . occupied by architectural mutations (Central Park, the Skyscraper), utopian fragments (Rockefeller Center, the U.N. Building), and irrational phenomena (Radio City Music Hall)." Koolhaas interprets and reinterprets the dynamic relationship between architecture and culture in a number of telling episodes of New York's history, including the imposition of the Manhattan grid, the creation of Coney Island, and the development of the skyscraper. Delirious New York is also packed with intriguing and fun facts and illustrated with witty watercolors and quirky archival drawings, photographs, postcards, and maps. The spirit of this visionary investigation of Manhattan equals the energy of the city itself.

Building Big

David Macaulay

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Why this shape and not that? Why steel instead of concrete or stone? Why put it here and not over there? These are the kinds of questions that David Macaulay asks himself when he observes an architectural wonder. These questions take him back to the basic process of design from which all structures begin, from the realization of a need for the structure to the struggles of the engineers and designers to map out and create the final construction. As only he can, David Macaulay engages readers" imaginations and gets them thinking about structures they see and use every day — bridges, tunnels, skyscrapers, domes, and dams. In Building Big he focuses on the connections between the planning and design problems and the solutions that are finally reached. Whether a structure is imposing or inspiring, he shows us that common sense and logic play just as important a part in architecture as imagination and technology do. As always, Macaulay inspires readers of all ages to look at their world in a new way.

Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design With Nature

Douglas Farr

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Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Written by the chair of the LEED-Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) initiative, Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design with Nature is both an urgent call to action and a comprehensive introduction to "sustainable urbanism"--the emerging and growing design reform movement that combines the creation and enhancement of walkable and diverse places with the need to build high-performance infrastructure and buildings.

Providing a historic perspective on the standards and regulations that got us to where we are today in terms of urban lifestyle and attempts at reform, Douglas Farr makes a powerful case for sustainable urbanism, showing where we went wrong, and where we need to go. He then explains how to implement sustainable urbanism through leadership and communication in cities, communities, and neighborhoods. Essays written by Farr and others delve into such issues as:

• Increasing sustainability through density.
• Integrating transportation and land use.
• Creating sustainable neighborhoods, including housing, car-free areas, locally-owned stores, walkable neighborhoods, and universal accessibility.
• The health and environmental benefits of linking humans to nature, including walk-to open spaces, neighborhood stormwater systems and waste treatment, and food production.
• High performance buildings and district energy systems.

Enriching the argument are in-depth case studies in sustainable urbanism, from BedZED in London, England and Newington in Sydney, Australia, to New Railroad Square in Santa Rosa, California and Dongtan, Shanghai, China. An epilogue looks to the future of sustainable urbanism over the next 200 years.

At once solidly researched and passionately argued, Sustainable Urbanism is the ideal guidebook for urban designers, planners, and architects who are eager to make a positive impact on our--and our descendants'--buildings, cities, and lives.