The Seduction of Place: The City in the Twenty First Century

Joseph Rykwert

ISBN 10: 0375400486 / ISBN 13: 9780375400483

Published by Fantagraphics, 2000

About this Item

Lonely and emotionally-impaired 'everyman' Jimmy Corrigan is given the opportunity to meet the father he never had. This is the spark for an improvisatory romance, which gingerly ignores all sense of plot and drama. The reader is transported between 1890's Chicago and 198O's small town Michigan, helped along by thousands of coloured illustrations and diagrams which provide a startling illusion of life and movement. The bulk of the book is supported by fold-out instructions, an index, paper cut-outs and brief notes.

Seller Inventory # CIN0375400486VG

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Seduction of Place: The City in the Twenty First Century
• Publisher: Fantagraphics
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0375400486
• ISBN 13: 9780375400483
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

One of the most highly respected architectural historians of our time takes on the question of whether or not we have the cities we need and what we can do to create them.

To understand why people love or hate their cities and why cities succeed or fail their inhabitants, Joseph Rykwert examines a broad spectrum of urban centers. Among them are Mexico City, the world's largest metropolis, sprawled around its old center; Berlin, newly reunited and furiously rebuilding; New Delhi and Islamabad, new capitals that exist alongside older towns; grandly planned cities like Chandigarh, Canberra, and Brasília; and more modest new towns like Columbia, Maryland, and Celebration, Florida, built in an attempt to correct the problems endemic to big cities.

Rykwert looks at image, style, and ornament; at public space and buildings; at infrastructure and street layout; at the visual qualities of contrast, strife, and energy that contribute to a city's appeal. Discussing both successes and failures, he suggests ways in which we can retain--or return to--the sense of place and individuation that determines the nourishing character and soul of the urban landscape.

About the Author

Joseph Rykwert is Paul Philippe Cret Professor of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of ten previous books, including The Idea of a Town. He lives in London and New York.