Overview

This book presents a cross-cultural approach to the study of urban space. Essays written by major contributors in contemporary urban studies provide a range of case studies from Asia, Latin America, North America, and Europe to address important questions about space and power, processes of change, aesthetics and attitudes toward space, and social divisions expressed through urban life. The essays fall into three interlocking sections: conceptual and linguistic approaches to urban space; visual and social examinations of world cities; and policy examinations of spatial analyses. Together with the jointly compiled bibliography, this collection of essays is designed to stimulate comparative debate and identify new areas for urban research. Essays contrast empty space in Barcelona and Savannah, explore the concept of healthy and unhealthy urban environments in the classical writings and in modern-day Vienna, and develop a model of space for Shanghai from the point of view of privacy. The subcultural ethos characterizing Tokyo and the castle as a symbol for the community in Japan are two more essay topics. The plaza in Spanish-American towns, the outdoor spaces in Italy (balcony, street, courtyard), and the school in Honduras are sites for socio-cultural analyses in three more essays. The last group of essays focus on discourses in urban planning, especially the responses of people to the growth, marketing, and decay of residential places. African-American neighborhoods and waterfront development provide examples for this section. These essays in their theoretical and geographical breadth make significant strides in defining the cultural meaning of urban space. They will be read with interest by city planners, ecologists, and other social scientists involved in finding human solutions to the metropolitan environment.

Full Product Details

Author:   Gary McDonogh ,  Robert Rotenberg
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Imprint:   Praeger Publishers Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.50cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.595kg
ISBN:  

9780897893190

ISBN 10:   0897893190
Pages:   248
Publication Date:   20 April 1993
Recommended Age:   From 7 to 17 years
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

"Introduction by Robert Rotenberg The Language of Place The Geography of Emptiness by Gary W. McDonogh On the Salubrity of Sites by Robert Rotenberg Chinese Privacy by Deborah Pellow Rediscovering Shitamachi: Subculture, Class, and Tokyo's ""Traditional"" Urbanism by Theodore C. Bestor Place in the City We Have Always Lived Under the Castle: Historical Symbols and the Maintenance of Meaning by John Mock Cultural Meaning of the Plaza: The History of the Spanish American Gridplan-Plaza Urban Design by Setha M. Low Italian Urbanscape: Intersection of Private and Public by Donald S. Pitkin Mapping Contested Terrains: Schoolrooms and Streetcorners in Urban Belize by Charles Rutheiser Planning and Response Beyond Built Form and Culture in the Anthropological Study of Residential Community Spaces by Margaret Rodman Housing Abandonment in Inner-City Black Neighborhoods: A Case Study of the Effects of the Dual Housing Market by Susan D. Greenbaum Access to the Waterfront: Transformations of Meaning on the Toronto Lakeshore by Matthew Cooper Public Access on the Urban Waterfront: A Question of Vision by R. Timothy Sieber Bibliography Index"

Reviews

"?The importance of this volume is not in the recitation of the statistics, facts, figures, or the various case studies, but in the realization of the complexities of urban design for those who construct the urban environment. This book should be used to educate against the creeping intolerance for situations or discourse that do not agree with ""our own."" It helps to broaden the discourse about what we can do to design contemporary environments that will be flexible and tolerant of differing points of view.?-Exploration in Sights and Sounds ?These anthropologists have provided a number of important insights on ""space and place, ' and have contributed to understanding the physical and social environments. Advanced undergraduate; graduate; faculty; professional.?-Choice ""These anthropologists have provided a number of important insights on ""space and place, ' and have contributed to understanding the physical and social environments. Advanced undergraduate; graduate; faculty; professional.""-Choice ""The importance of this volume is not in the recitation of the statistics, facts, figures, or the various case studies, but in the realization of the complexities of urban design for those who construct the urban environment. This book should be used to educate against the creeping intolerance for situations or discourse that do not agree with ""our own."" It helps to broaden the discourse about what we can do to design contemporary environments that will be flexible and tolerant of differing points of view.""-Exploration in Sights and Sounds"

?The importance of this volume is not in the recitation of the statistics, facts, figures, or the various case studies, but in the realization of the complexities of urban design for those who construct the urban environment. This book should be used to educate against the creeping intolerance for situations or discourse that do not agree with our own. It helps to broaden the discourse about what we can do to design contemporary environments that will be flexible and tolerant of differing points of view.?-Exploration in Sights and Sounds

Author Information

ROBERT ROTENBERG is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of the International Studies Program at DePaul University. He has conducted research in Vienna for fifteen years and has done urban analyses of Chicago and Toronto. GARY W. McDONOGH is Visiting Professor and Director of the Growth and Structure of Cities Program at Bryn Mawr. He has done research in Barcelona and Savannah and has published Good Families of Barcelona (1986).

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