The City Shaped Spiro Kostof Pdf Free Download UPDATED
The City Shaped Spiro Kostof Pdf Free Download
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I don't know why, but the book felt incomplete somehow. Information technology'due south ordered logically into themes like grid morphologies, radial cities, then on and apparently any attempt at comprehensiveness for such a broad topic would be incommunicable. I haven't gotten far in the companion volume - compiled at the same time I believe - so that's probably the missing link. Other than occasional inconsistencies [sometimes its "218 feet (200 meters)" then the next page "200 meters (218 feet)" - c'monday, just say meters brand more sense and place 'em first!] I don't have much criticism for this. The biggest annoyance is the lack of plans/images supplementing the text. In one instance (page 173) he states "...as can be seen in a 1612 view" of some place however there'south no 1612 view, or 1812 view, or whatever damn view to be found anywhere. He twice mentions a Brasilia scheme that also patently didn't make the final cut. And this was published before Google - which I might call something of a compromise between enquiry and laziness. Then that event permeates the book only, all in all, I highly recommend this for whatsoever urban design enthusiast.
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Its pretty damned impressive.
Instead of a typical comprehensive "history of the city," Kostof finds uncomplicated urban forms, such as "the grid" or "the boulevard," and traces their evolution and interpretation beyond hundreds of years. Non in any unproblematic and piece of cake to read chronological order, mind-you, but in a sort of inspired gratis association. In a few heavily illustrated pages he'll leap from the 8th century grid of Chinese uppercase Chang'an, and its monarchical and imperialistic tendencies, to the d
Its pretty damned impressive.
Instead of a typical comprehensive "history of the city," Kostof finds simple urban forms, such equally "the grid" or "the boulevard," and traces their evolution and interpretation across hundreds of years. Not in any simple and easy to read chronological order, mind-you, just in a sort of inspired free association. In a few heavily illustrated pages he'll spring from the eighth century grid of Chinese capital Chang'an, and its monarchical and imperialistic tendencies, to the autonomous Jeffersonian land survey of the US, to the extensions of medieval garrison towns in France.
On one mitt I'one thousand glad I read it all because its all worth reading, but its so dense and then convoluted that i's eyes tin glaze over the pages of obscure names of small-scale cities and long-dead kings. Flipping through it again makes me realize how much I missed.
...more than 
This two-way street (lamentable) betwixt people and urban building blocks informs the organization of the book. Kostof will take a topological concept, like that of the "organic plan" (every bit opposed to that soulless grid; ironically, deliberately "organic" patterns usually require much more advance planning than a grid, and as a result put more constraints on the lives of residents), depict its typical usage and variations throughout history, and enumerate examples of how dissimilar societies have used that idea, what it meant to them, and what the eventual effects were on the lives of the people who had to alive in the end product. Small things, like Businesswoman Hausmann's attempts to make the facades of Parisian buildings consistent, as they are to this day, tin exist looked at every bit either heavy-handed government conformity projects or as as insightful bit of forethought that has given the city such a famous, beloved aspect that information technology's literally illegal to change it now. Some of the best and most interesting parts were where Kostof examined utopian ideals of planning, which accept a long history dating back to Plato'southward Republic and fifty-fifty before. He drew an interesting parallel between plans intended for surveillance, like Jeremy Bentham's famous Panopticon, and the radial plans of settlements where where ability was designed to exist at the middle. What is it that makes designers of social systems think that they need to blueprint cities as well? What makes them think information technology will be effective?
The book seem to jump around and digress a bit, since it'southward organized past urban form, but it's no less interesting for it. You come across repeatedly cities designed as market towns, military camps, defensive bastions, population overflow catchments, religious centers, authoritative capitals, communes, ports, and all sorts of things trying to notice their identity while existence prodded from all directions, and the way that cities grow and change over time is really interesting to see, especially with all the neat illustrations. Unfortunately the book has a really bad and weak ending - Kostof hates skyscrapers and lauds attempts to reduce them, in passages as meaningless as they are full of high-flown rhetoric. He puts in a lot of confused ideological-aesthetic verbiage near how skyscrapers are symbols of the excesses of capitalism and how they destroy the character of cities. I personally remember that skyscrapers not only wait actually cool, they are incredibly useful for allowing large numbers of people to gather and make livings without having to sprawl out in all directions. Kostof does not deign to actually run any numbers on how expensive and environmentally damaging his anti-skyscraper stance is, but if you end reading before that section or just stick to looking at its pictures you will have read a very interesting and comprehensive survey on an underappreciated topic. You certainly won't expect at the next plaza you see in the same way over again.
...more than Beyond 5 long and lavishly illustrated chapters, he explains how cities evolve over fourth dimension or, sometimes, are created all at on
In this magisterial book, Spiro Kostof--who died the yr it was published--reviews the means that cities accept been designed and experienced over 5000 years and across the globe. "Information technology is," he writes, "about urban grade and urban procedure. More specifically, it is a word of some patterns and elements of urban form seen in a historical perspective" (p. 9, his emphasis).Beyond five long and lavishly illustrated chapters, he explains how cities evolve over time or, sometimes, are created all at once by a main planner. He nuances the long-standing contrast betwixt "organic" cities, frequently said to take no plan, and planned ones--all cities, even those that grow over time, are subject area to planning, just considering human beings make decisions about what to build, where, and how. (Michael E. Smith elaborates on Kostof's observations in an article in the 2007 number of The Periodical of Planning History.)
Urban plans come in all shapes and sizes; Kostof seeks to categorize them into groups that include examples from the total range of fourth dimension and space he covers. His categories are neither mechanical nor arbitrary, but carefully articulated and explained and justified in bully depth. I upshot is the discovery that like plans have cropped upwardly quite independently beyond history.
It's impossible to do this rich, evocative book justice in a few words. It asks to be savored, a task made easy past Kostof's beautiful, vivid prose and the abundance of well-chosen figures, which include over 30 color plates.
He refers occasionally to a companion volume, The City Assembled, which appeared in the twelvemonth later his death. Information technology'southward next on my list!
...more -Social ethics are reflected in urban center planning.
-The grid contains as many deviations equally regularities.
-If you empathise changes to your environs, your surroundings brand more sense.
worth more attention.
read chapters 1-4(or 5)
i would be interested in checking out his "sequel," The City Assembled.
reading for school. is nice base in metropolis form.read chapters 1-4(or v)
i would exist interested in checking out his "sequel," The City Assembled.
...more than 
In 1993, following his death, the Social club of Architectural Historians established the "Spiro Kostof Honour," to recognize books "in the spirit of Kostof's writings," pa
Spiro Konstantine Kostof was a leading architectural historian, and professor at the Academy of California, Berkeley. His books continue to exist widely read and some are routinely used in collegiate courses on architectural history.In 1993, following his death, the Society of Architectural Historians established the "Spiro Kostof Accolade," to recognize books "in the spirit of Kostof's writings," particularly those that are interdisciplinary and whose content focuses on urban development, the history of urban form, and/or the architecture of the built surround.
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