The Seduction of Place
The History and Future of Cities
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group · Print & ebook · March 12, 2002
No other place on earth is as full both of promise and of dread as the city; it is at once alienating and exciting.
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- Who it’s for
- Joseph Rykwert traces how human choices have shaped cities and may remake them.
- Themes
- Urban history, Community choices shape cities, Creating more humane cities
- Genres
- Urban & Land Use Planning, Why Buildings Look That Way, Cities & Urban Planning
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Start with this bookAbout this book
No other place on earth is as full both of promise and of dread as the city; it is at once alienating and exciting. These concentrations of people have not, however, come about as the result of vast immutable, impersonal forces, but because of human choices. The worsening or betterment of urban life will also be the result of choices. Our choices.
Continue reading
That cities display and represent the personal desires of their inhabitants is central to Joseph Rykwert’s argument in The Seduction of Place. Insisting that they are the physical constructs of communities, he travels through history to trace their roots in ancient times and outlines current attempts and future possibilities to improve the metropolis. Rykwert includes a broad range of urban landscapes: 18th-and 19th-century Paris and London, the current sprawl of Mexico City and Cairo, planned cities like Brasilia, and, finally, New York, the world capital. Always opinionated and often controversial, Rykwert assesses how and why urban projects from the past succeeded or failed and what lessons can be drawn from them for the future. Ultimately, The Seduction of Place is a deeply felt and powerfully reasoned call for a commitment by every citizen to the creation of a more humane place to live.
Cities by Choice
Joseph Rykwert traces how human choices have shaped cities and may remake them.
Come here for
- A history tracing cities to ancient roots
- An argument about how community choices shape urban life
Expect
- Assessments of urban projects that succeeded or failed
- Urban landscapes from Paris and London to Mexico City, Cairo, Brasília, and New York
Where it sits
| Urban & Land Use Planning | 84% |
|---|---|
| Cities & Urban Planning | 53% |
| Why Buildings Look That Way | 33% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Public & Commercial Buildings
- 20th-Century History
- Urban Life
- Authors
- Joseph Rykwert
- Publisher
- Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
- Published
- March 12, 2002
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Urban history · Community choices shape cities · Creating more humane cities
- Reading lane
- Public & Commercial Buildings