Cities in Civilisation - Hardcover

Hall, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0297842196 ISBN 13: 9780297842194

Publisher: W&N, 1998

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.

About this title

About the Author:

Sir Peter Hall is Professor of Planning at the Bartlett School of Architecture and Planning, University College, London, and Professor Emeritus of City and Regional Planning at the University of California at Berkeley. He is the author or editor of more than twenty-five books, including The World Cities and Cities Tomorrow, and is a former Special Advisor on Planning to the Secretary of State for the Environment. He lives in London.

From the Inside Flap:

2,500 years, Cities in Civilization is a tribute to the city as the birthplace of Western civilization. Drawing on the contributions of economists and geographers, of cultural, technological, and social historians, Sir Peter Hall examines twenty-one cities at their greatest moments. Hall describes the achievements of these golden ages and outlines the precise combinations of forces -- both universal and local -- that led to each city's belle epoque.

Hall identifies four distinct expressions of civic innovation: artistic growth, technological progress, the marriage of culture and technology, and solutions to evolving problems. Descriptions of Periclean Athens, Renaissance Florence, Elizabethan London, and nineteenth-century Vienna bring to life those seedbeds of artistic and intellectual creativity. Explorations of Manchester during the Industrial Revolution, of Henry Ford's Detroit, and of Palo Alto at the dawn of the computer age highlight centers of technological advances.

About this edition

• Publisher: W&N
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0297842196
• ISBN 13: 9780297842194
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 992