In this new work; prizewinning author; professor; and Slate architecture critic Witold Rybczynski returns to the territory he knows best: writing about the way people live; just as he did in the acclaimed bestsellers Home and A Clearing in the Distance. In Makeshift Metropolis; Rybczynski has drawn upon a lifetime of observing cities to craft a concise and insightful book that is at once an intellectual history and a masterful critique. Makeshift Metropolis describes how current ideas about urban planning evolved from the movements that defined the twentieth century; such as City Beautiful; the Garden City; and the seminal ideas of Frank Lloyd Wright and Jane Jacobs. If the twentieth century was the age of planning; we now find ourselves in the age of the market; Rybczynski argues; where entrepreneurial developers are shaping the twenty-first-century city with mixed-use developments; downtown living; heterogeneity; density; and liveliness. He introduces readers to projects like Brooklyn Bridge Park; the Yards in Washington; D.C.; and; further afield; to the new city of Modirsquo;in; Israelmdash;sites that; in this age of resource scarcity; economic turmoil; and changing human demands; challenge our notion of the city. Erudite and immensely engaging; Makeshift Metropolis is an affirmation of Rybczynskirsquo;s role as one of our most original thinkers on the way we live today.
#1981218 in eBooks 2010-06-29 2010-07-13File Name: B003TO680U
Review
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Arts and sociology collections alike will appreciate this diverse approachBy Midwest Book ReviewSteven Hellers Pop: How Graphic Design Shapes Popular Culture offers an outstanding key linking graphic design to popular culture. From the recreation of Yankee Stadium to twitter. POP is the first book to consider graphic designs choices and influence on wider cultural norms. and focuses on contemporary issues from viral advertising to political satire and design vs. decoration. Arts and sociology collections alike will appreciate this diverse approach.0 of 6 people found the following review helpful. WeakBy SiwashThe book is the cats pajamas if you are a graphic designer already in love with Barack Obama.Otherwise. its a pretty modest. limp. weak. useless book.
