Cities in Civilization. Culture, Innovation, and Urban Order

Hall, Peter

ISBN 10: 0297842196 / ISBN 13: 9780297842194

Published by London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 1998, 1998

About this Item

(XIII) 1169 p. Hardcover with dustjacket (In very good condition.).

Seller Inventory # 041635

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Cities in Civilization. Culture, Innovation, and Urban Order
• Publisher: London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 1998
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0297842196
• ISBN 13: 9780297842194
• Binding: Hardcover
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

About this title

Synopsis

The product of over a decade's research and writing, Peter Hall's magnum opus explores the history of cities and their role in the development of civilisation from the cultural crucibles of Athens in the sixth century BC to the city as freeway, Los Angeles. A major book which will stand alongside such successful works of popular scholarship as Simon Schama's Citizens, Rob Hughes The shock of the New Orlando Figes' A peoples tragedy.

Review

Every golden age has been an urban age; throughout history, cities have provided a crucible for creativity. How do such belles époquescome about? Why should the creative flame burn so uniquely in cities and not in the countryside, and why does the creative and innovative spirit of one city inevitably yield to another? Cities in Civilization explores these issues and others related to the central role of cities, past and present, in the fostering of artistic, philosophical, scientific, and technological genius.

Peter Hall devoted 15 years of his life conceptualizing, researching, and writing Cities in Civilization. His extraordinary efforts are apparent in the analytical scope, historical depth, and sheer length of the book, which, including photographs and a bibliography, is well over 1,000 pages. Supporting his argument with ample reference to dates, historical figures, and citations of leading urban scholars, the book does not lend itself to casual, cover-to-cover reading. Despite the book's length, though, it remains easy to navigate through the case studies of individual cities. Hall systematically divides the text into five thematic chapters, further subdividing each chapter chronologically by city. The chapters explore themes of cultural creativity, technological and economic innovation, the urban fusion of art and technology, urban innovation, and the partnership of the private and public sector to promote urban development and regeneration.

Breaking from other leading scholars in the field, Hall does not consider the great city doomed. Instead, Cities in Civilization testifies to his confidence that cities of the 21st century, like the great cities of the past, will successfully work to solve their own problems and ameliorate their own ills. --Bertina Loeffler