Cities in Civilization - Hardcover

Hall, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0394587324 ISBN 13: 9780394587325

Publisher: Pantheon Books, 1998

Synopsis

The world's most eminent urban historian captures the distinctive qualities of twenty-one cities at their peak, from Renaissance Florence to turn-of-the-century Paris to 1950s Memphis, in an illuminating study featuring forty-eight pages of photographs. 17,500 first printing.

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.

Edition details

• Publisher: Pantheon Books
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0394587324
• ISBN 13: 9780394587325
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 1169