The City

The City PDF Author: Joel Kotkin
Publisher: Modern Library
ISBN: 0307432041
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 172

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Book Description
If humankind can be said to have a single greatest creation, it would be those places that represent the most eloquent expression of our species’s ingenuity, beliefs, and ideals: the city. In this authoritative and engagingly written account, the acclaimed urbanist and bestselling author examines the evolution of urban life over the millennia and, in doing so, attempts to answer the age-old question: What makes a city great? Despite their infinite variety, all cities essentially serve three purposes: spiritual, political, and economic. Kotkin follows the progression of the city from the early religious centers of Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and China to the imperial centers of the Classical era, through the rise of the Islamic city and the European commercial capitals, ending with today’s post-industrial suburban metropolis. Despite widespread optimistic claims that cities are “back in style,” Kotkin warns that whatever their form, cities can thrive only if they remain sacred, safe, and busy–and this is true for both the increasingly urbanized developing world and the often self-possessed “global cities” of the West and East Asia. Looking at cities in the twenty-first century, Kotkin discusses the effects of developments such as shifting demographics and emerging technologies. He also considers the effects of terrorism–how the religious and cultural struggles of the present pose the greatest challenge to the urban future. Truly global in scope, The City is a timely narrative that will place Kotkin in the company of Lewis Mumford, Jane Jacobs, and other preeminent urban scholars.

A World of Giant Cities

A World of Giant Cities PDF Author: Mattei Dogan
Publisher: SAGE Publications, Incorporated
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
The Metropolis Era, a two volume set, focuses on the social, economic, political and technological determinants of growth and change in the great cities of the world. Volume One examines the paradoxical phenomenon of explosive growth of giant cities in the Third World - and the steady deconcentration of population in more developed countries. A World of Giant Cities looks at cities in the United States, Europe, China, India, South East Asia and Africa.

The City

The City PDF Author: Joel Kotkin
Publisher: Modern Library
ISBN: 0307432041
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 172

Get Book Here

Book Description
If humankind can be said to have a single greatest creation, it would be those places that represent the most eloquent expression of our species’s ingenuity, beliefs, and ideals: the city. In this authoritative and engagingly written account, the acclaimed urbanist and bestselling author examines the evolution of urban life over the millennia and, in doing so, attempts to answer the age-old question: What makes a city great? Despite their infinite variety, all cities essentially serve three purposes: spiritual, political, and economic. Kotkin follows the progression of the city from the early religious centers of Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and China to the imperial centers of the Classical era, through the rise of the Islamic city and the European commercial capitals, ending with today’s post-industrial suburban metropolis. Despite widespread optimistic claims that cities are “back in style,” Kotkin warns that whatever their form, cities can thrive only if they remain sacred, safe, and busy–and this is true for both the increasingly urbanized developing world and the often self-possessed “global cities” of the West and East Asia. Looking at cities in the twenty-first century, Kotkin discusses the effects of developments such as shifting demographics and emerging technologies. He also considers the effects of terrorism–how the religious and cultural struggles of the present pose the greatest challenge to the urban future. Truly global in scope, The City is a timely narrative that will place Kotkin in the company of Lewis Mumford, Jane Jacobs, and other preeminent urban scholars.

The Giant Cities of Bashan and Syria's Holy Places

The Giant Cities of Bashan and Syria's Holy Places PDF Author: Josias Leslie Porter
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Israel
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description


Megacities

Megacities PDF Author: Andre Sorensen
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 4431992677
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 418

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Book Description
For the first time in human history, more than half the world’s population is urban. A fundamental aspect of this transformation has been the emergence of giant cities, or megacities, that present major new challenges. This book examines how issues of megacity development, urban form, sustainability, and unsustainability are conceived, how governance processes are influenced by these ideas, and how these processes have in turn influenced outcomes on the ground, in some cases in transformative ways. Through 15 in-depth case studies by prominent researchers from around the world, this book examines the major challenges facing megacities today. The studies are organized around a shared set of concerns and questions about issues of sustainability, land development, urban governance, and urban form. Some of the main questions addressed are: What are the most pressing issues of sustainability and urban form in each megacity? How are major issues of sustainability understood and framed by policymakers? Is urban form considered a significant component of sustainability issues in public debates and public policy? Who are the key actors framing urban sustainability challenges and shaping urban change? How is unsustainability, risk, or disaster imagined, and how are those concerns reflected in policy approaches? What has been achieved so far, and what challenges remain? The publication of this book is a step toward answering these and other crucial questions.

A World-Systems Reader

A World-Systems Reader PDF Author:
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 1461636450
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 349

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Book Description
This book brings together some of the most influential new research from the world-systems perspective. The authors survey and analyze new and emerging topics from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives, from political science to archaeology. Each analytical essay is written in accessible language so that the volume serves as a lucid introduction both to the tradition of world-systems thought and the new debates that are sparking further research today.

State of the World, 1993

State of the World, 1993 PDF Author: Lester Russell Brown
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393034394
Category : Economic history
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description


Planet of Slums

Planet of Slums PDF Author: Mike Davis
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1781683689
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Book Description
According to the united nations, more than one billion people now live in the slums of the cities of the South. In this brilliant and ambitious book, Mike Davis explores the future of a radically unequal and explosively unstable urban world. From the sprawling barricadas of Lima to the garbage hills of Manila, urbanization has been disconnected from industrialization, and even from economic growth. Davis portrays a vast humanity warehoused in shantytowns and exiled from the formal world economy. He argues that the rise of this informal urban proletariat is a wholly unforeseen development, and asks whether the great slums, as a terrified Victorian middle class once imagined, are volcanoes waiting to erupt.

Fundamental Trends in City Development

Fundamental Trends in City Development PDF Author: Giovanni Maciocco
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540741798
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
The Reinvented City reflects on externity, the principal feature of a reinvented city. Three basic trends of the city are investigated; "discomposed", "generic" and "segregated" phenomena with the loss of the city as a space of social interaction and communication. Important questions are posed: What is the true public sphere in contemporary societies? What is the contemporary public space corresponding to it? In what way can the city project construct contemporary public space?

Metropolis 1890-1940

Metropolis 1890-1940 PDF Author: Anthony Sutcliffe
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226780252
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 494

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Book Description
An ideal and welcome reference and reader for students of urbanism, Metropolis 1890-1940 examines perceptions of the city during the dramatic urban growth of this period. Metropolis looks at the policies adopted to deal with the new city and at the views of the city expressed in the art, architecture, literature, cinema, music, and ideology of the time. Internationally known experts discuss case studies of London, Paris, Berlin, the Ruhr, New York, Moscow, and Tokyo, and a postscript brings the reader up to date with a survey of postwar urbanism.

Encyclopedia of the City

Encyclopedia of the City PDF Author: Roger W. Caves
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 0415252253
Category : Cities and towns
Languages : en
Pages : 597

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Book Description
A first-class work of reference that will be both an essential resource for independent study as well as a useful aid in teaching: a solid but also provocative starting point for wider exploration of the city.