From Florence; in the second half of the fifteenth century; men looked into a new dawn. When the Turk took Constantinople in 1443; the "glory that was Greece" was carried to her by fleeing scholars; and she became for one brilliant generation the home of that Platonic worship of beauty and philosophy which had been so long an exile from the hearts of men. I say Platonic; because it was especially to Plato; the mystic; that she turned; possessed still by something of the mystical intensity of her own great poet; himself an exile. When; in 1444; Pope Eugenius left her to return to Rome; Florence was ready to welcome this new wanderer; the spirit of the ancient world. And the almost childish wonder with which she received that august guest is evident in all the marvellous work of the years that followed; in none more than in that of Sandro Botticelli.
#627997 in eBooks 2016-03-15 2016-03-15File Name: B014CS5TME
Review
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Inspirational and motivating for land use professionalsBy AndreaGravel has provided a great overview of urban planning and infrastructure solutions for the problems that we face post-sprawl. I live in the Pacific Northwest and work for local government in land use. I found this book to be both inspiring and professionally motivating. The everyday interactions that are experienced when we travel by foot. bicycle. bus or light rail are profound. They help us live our lives more efficiently. happier. and they trigger a feeling of community simply by seeing and experiencing our lives within a group. These moments are seeds of empathy and alter our world view. All of this really matters to creating the types of communities that are vibrant and sustainable.Gravel starts out reviewing city infrastructure in Paris. then Savannah. then his hometown of suburban sprawl and shopping centers in North Carolina. Essentially. Gravel sets forth infrastructure as THE major factor to a citys livability and attractiveness to residents. Then he provides an exciting narrative of the Atlanta Beltline project from the first seeds of inspiration through struggles and finally the 2016 status mid-completion (already viewed as a great success).Gravels insights are not limited to infrastructure. though. His insights are just as transferable to any difficult to solve political problem. His takeaways of what worked for the Beltline are both helpful and easily analogized. As Ive reflected on local political successes and failures. I can see very critically where the process might have gone wrong using the analysis Gravel sets forth.I hope that stakeholders and advocates in communities across the country read this book and feel similarly inspired.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. sometimes engagingBy Michael LewynThe beginning and end of this book discusses the growth and decline of suburbia; it didnt tell me much I didnt already know. but it may be useful for readers less familiar with this issue. Even in this relatively dry part of the book. Gravel makes a few interesting points such as a) the evils of long blocks (which make walking boring by reducing pedestrians choices). (b) the difference between 1950s sprawl (which is basically auto-oriented but usually allows children to walk to school and a shop or two) and more recent. more anti-pedestrian sprawl and c) the inflexibility of cul-de-sac dominated sprawl. which cannot be changed from one use to another as easily as gridded streets.The middle of the book. focusing on the Beltline. was more interesting to me. Gravel notes that while megaprojects often trigger a "Not In My Back Yard" (NIMBY) response to affected neighborhoods. neighbors of the Beltline got behind it. Gravel suggests that it was popular precisely because it didnt originate from a mayor or real estate developer or some other controversial group. and also because it would replace abandoned rail lines that had been centers for crime and vagrancy. (Also. parks tend to be less polarizing than transit or new housing).1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A Visionarys Look at Remaking the CityBy Mark H. PendergrastRyan Gravel is one of the few living American architects/city planners who can legitimately be called a visionary. His 1999 masterrsquo;s thesis at Georgia Tech envisioned a streetcar loop inside the Atlanta city limits. to connect four separate railroad lines. mostly termed ldquo;belt linesrdquo; when they were built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. because they formed a kind of belt around the central city. They lay only two or three miles in radius from the city center. and aside from one section in the northwestern part of the city. they were mostly abandoned. In fact. most parts were covered with kudzu vines and homeless encampments. By reviving these forgotten. neglected corridors. Gravel wrote in his thesis that ldquo;the Belt Line should accomplish more than just an improved system of public transportation. It has the potential to change the way we look at Atlanta.rdquo; Instead of dividing neighborhoods. the old railroad tracks could reconnect ldquo;home and destination. rich and poor. black and white.rdquo; Perhaps the cityrsquo;s problems could lead to its salvation. ldquo;Troubled by pollution and congestion. Atlanta can seize this chance to redefine itself.rdquo; he wrote in his thesis.Gravel never expected his thesis to become reality. but thatrsquo;s exactly what is happening. and his original vision has expanded to include a walking-hiking trail and new parks. In this book. Where We Want to Live. Gravel briefly summarizes how the BeltLine (as it is now spelled) project came into being. initially through grassroots efforts that he helped to lead. But the main point of his book is a big-picture exploration of how re-inventing old infrastructure can help to remake our cities into places where. as the title says. we actually want to live ndash; in a greener. more walkable. more intelligently developed way. with denser residential patterns. mixed-use developments. fewer automobiles. and more walking and biking.In this book. Gravel. who now travels the world to advise other cities. discusses not only the Atlanta BeltLine. but many other ldquo;catalytic infrastructurerdquo; projects. among them New Yorkrsquo;s High Line and prospective East River Blueway. Miamirsquo;s Underline. Philadelphiarsquo;s Rail Park. Detroitrsquo;s Dequindre Cut Greenway. the Los Angeles River restoration. the Iron Horse Trestle in St. Louis. the Harismus Stem Embankment in Jersey City. the Midtown Greenway in Minneapolis. Lafitte Greenway in New Orleans. Buffalo Bayou Park in Houston. S-Line in Salt Lake City. Singaporersquo;s Rail Corridor. Vancouverrsquo;s Arbutus Corridor. Buffalorsquo;s Belt Line. Parisrsquo;s Promenade Plantee and Petite Ceinture. All of these projects are reinventing old infrastructure (mostly abandoned rails).I do have a few quibbles with the book. Gravel provocatively entitles one chapter. ldquo;Therersquo;s Nothing Wrong With Sprawl.rdquo; then proceeds to tell us everything that is wrong with sprawl. Also. he does not go into any detail on all of the challenges that the BeltLine faced in coming as far as it has. There have been enormous problems. involving legal challenges that led to a state constitutional amendment. a last-ditch effort by Amtrak to take the northeastern section. the Great Recession demolishing income estimates for the BeltLine tax allocation district. an unworkable contract with the Atlanta Public Schools. and more. so that itrsquo;s quite miraculous that the project is still coming along. And it is unlikely that the entire project will be finished by the 2030 target date. In fact. it isnrsquo;t even clear if streetcars will make it onto the corridor along with the walking/biking trail (though a new city tax to support MARTA. Atlantarsquo;s rapid transit. may provide hope). These are issues Gravel does not cover in this book. (I should reveal that I am working on a book about Atlanta. my birthplace. which will be a good complement to Gravelrsquo;s. I am focusing on the BeltLine project in much greater detail. Gravel is one of the major characters in my forthcoming book.)But these are really minor cavils. What Gravel has done here is to offer a clarion call. a sermon if you will. to support these innovative urban projects. In his final chapter. he exhorts readers: ldquo;By experimenting with new ideas. cultivating a political structure for change. stopping sprawl. and shifting to more sustainable growth strategies. we can generate significant and positive changehellip;. Whatever road we take to get there. we will have to build broad support around an aspirational view of our future. This will require us to dream. think. and plan. but we will also need to take actionhellip;.rdquo;Ryan Gravelrsquo;s book should be required reading for city planners and those who care about our future.About the reviewer: Mark Pendergrast is an Atlanta native who is writing a book about Atlanta with a focus on the BeltLine and its adjacent neighborhoods. It should be published by Basic Books in the spring of 2017. You may reach him through his website. [...]
