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OverviewWhat makes a good downtown and why? Are today's downtowns, with their waterfront parks, festival markets, sports arenas and cultural centres, more vibrant and lively than the ""central business districts"" of the 19th and early 20th centuries? Was there ever a ""golden age"" of downtowns? In this book, urban scholar Larry Ford casts a critical and practiced eye on 16 contemporary urban centres to offer an expert's view of the best - and worst - of downtown America. Ford begins with a brief history of US urban development. He then explains his criteria for evaluating downtowns before proceeding with an on-the-street examination of the featured 16 cities. Each is rated based on use of physical site, particularly for housing (unlike suburbs, Ford notes, most downtowns are located in challenging physical locales, such as harbours, rivers, hills or peninsulas), street morphology, civic space, functional aspects (office space, retail stores and convention centres), and the support districts in the fringe areas surrounding the downtown core. Ford concludes with a suggested model of downtown structure based upon the case studies and with a look at the possible effects of increasing globalization on the downtowns of the late 21st century. This book will appeal to those interested in urban studies, landscape studies, American studies, architecture, historic preservation and planning, and urban geography. Featured cities: Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Cleveland, Columbus, Denver, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Providence, San Antonio, San Diego, Seattle and St Louis. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Larry R. Ford (San Diego State University)Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press Imprint: Johns Hopkins University Press Dimensions: Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 22.90cm Weight: 0.612kg ISBN: 9780801871634ISBN 10: 0801871638 Pages: 360 Publication Date: 26 August 2003 Recommended Age: From 17 Audience: General/trade , Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , General , Professional & Vocational Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: Awaiting stock  The supplier is currently out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out for you. Table of ContentsContents: Preface Introduction The Downtown Imperative and the Need for Comparative Studies1. The American Downtown: The Myth of a Golden Age 2. The Evolution of the American Downtown, 1850-2000 3. The Downtown Stage: Physical Site, Street Morphology, and Civic Space 4. Traditional Downtown Functions: Offices, Retailing, Hotels, and Convention Centers 5. Downtown Expands: Major Attractions, Historic Districts, Residential Neighborhoods, and Transportation Innovations 6. Ranking Downtowns: Toward a Model of Spacial Organization Notes Bibliography IndexReviews<p>How rare and refreshing it is to come across a book that abruptly transforms our vision of the world, or at least a significant segment thereof. Just such a splendid rarity is Larry Ford's America's New Downtowns . After declaring that 'Our old models and generalizations are out of date' and that his goal is to get people thinking about what makes a good downtown and why, ' our author offers a provocative new model and a wealth of empirical evidence and insights that could keep us thinking about and observing the core neighborhoods of our cities, and perhaps even their betterment, for some time to come... This is a major contribution to our understanding of contemporary American life. File it under 'Required Reading.'.--Wilbur Zelinsky Professional Geographer <p>The text is free of jargon, argues its points in a straightforward manner and can easily be read by the general public interested in the topic. --Ola Johansson Pennsylvania Geographer (01/01/2004) <p> How rare and refreshing it is to come across a book that abruptly transforms our vision of the world, or at least a significant segment thereof. Just such a splendid rarity is Larry Ford's America's New Downtowns. After declaring that 'Our old models and generalizations are out of date' and that his goal is to get people thinking about what makes a good downtown and why, ' our author offers a provocative new model and a wealth of empirical evidence and insights that could keep us thinking about and observing the core neighborhoods of our cities, and perhaps even their betterment, for some time to come... This is a major contribution to our understanding of contemporary American life. File it under 'Required Reading.'. -- Wilbur Zelinsky, Professional Geographer How rare and refreshing it is to come across a book that abruptly transforms our vision of the world, or at least a significant segment thereof. Just such a splendid rarity is Larry Ford's America's New Downtowns. After declaring that 'Our old models and generalizations are out of date' and that his goal is to get people thinking about what makes a good downtown and why,' our author offers a provocative new model and a wealth of empirical evidence and insights that could keep us thinking about and observing the core neighborhoods of our cities, and perhaps even their betterment, for some time to come... This is a major contribution to our understanding of contemporary American life. File it under 'Required Reading.'. -- Wilbur Zelinsky Professional Geographer Perceptive... Challenging myths of an idyllic past, Ford offers a new historical and comparative overview that reads downtowns through process as well as through an assemblage of different elements-topography, places, activities, attractions, facilities, and connections... The historical and programmatic illuminations of this study should interest general readers and academic and planning professionals alike. Choice 2004 This is a book with a purpose that succeeds admirably in not becoming partisan. It is a serviceable book that does what it sets out to do, which is to create a vocabulary of comparative terms for assessing American downtowns. -- Jerry Herron Indiana Magazine of History 2004 The fruit of long experience and extensive recent observations. -- Jurgen Lafrenz Urban Morphology Ford is a knowledgeable commentator on the American City. -- David Ley Progress in Human Geography 2004 The text is free of jargon, argues its points in a straightforward manner and can easily be read by the general public interested in the topic. -- Ola Johansson Pennsylvania Geographer 2004 Author InformationLarry R. Ford is a professor of geography at San Diego State University and has taught urban geography for thirty years. He is the author of Cities and Buildings: Skyscrapers, Skid Rows, and Suburbs and The Spaces between Buildings, both available from Johns Hopkins. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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