Building American Cities

Download or read book Building American Cities written by Joe R. Feagin and published by Beard Books. This book was released on 2002 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a reprint of a 1990 book A comprehensive analysis of how cities grow, change, deteriorate and are resuscitated

Download or read book Portal: San Francisco's Ferry Building and the Reinvention of American Cities written by John King and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2023-11-07 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice A two-time Pulitzer finalist explores the story of American urban design through San Francisco’s iconic Ferry Building. Conceived in the Gilded Age, the Ferry Building opened in 1898 as San Francisco’s portal to the world—the terminus of the transcontinental railway and a showcase of civic ambition. In silent films and World’s Fair postcards, nothing said “San Francisco” more than its soaring clocktower. But as acclaimed architectural critic John King recounts in Portal, the rise of the automobile and double-deck freeways severed the city from its beloved structure and its waterfront—a connection that required generations to restore. King’s narrative spans the rise and fall and rebirth of the Ferry Building. Rich with feats of engineering and civic imagination, his story introduces colorful figures who fought to preserve the Ferry Building’s character (and the city’s soul)—from architect Arthur Page Brown and legendary columnist Herb Caen to poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Senator Dianne Feinstein. In King’s hands, the saga of the Ferry Building is a microcosm of a larger evolution along the waterfronts of cities everywhere. Portal traces the damage inflicted on historic neighborhoods and working dockyards by cars, highways, and top-down planning and “urban renewal.” But when an earthquake destroyed the Embarcadero Freeway, city residents seized the chance to reclaim their connection to the bay. Transporting readers across 125 years of history, this tour de force explores the tensions impacting urban infrastructure and public spaces, among them tourism, deindustrialization, development, and globalization. Portal culminates with a rich portrait of San Francisco’s vibrant esplanade today, visited by millions, even as sea level rise and earthquakes threaten a landmark that remains as vital as ever. A book for city lovers and visitors, architecture fans and pedestrians, Portal is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of San Francisco and the future of American cities.

Download or read book Building American Public Health written by R. Lopez and published by Springer. This book was released on 2012-05-04 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This historical study looks at how reformers have used urban planning and architecture to improve the health of urban residents of the United States. It begins in the nineteenth century, when problems in rapidly urbanizing cities threatened to overwhelm cities, and then traces the development and impact of reform movements up through the First World War, including discussions of model tenements, the 'city beautiful' movement, tenement laws, and zoning and building codes. Midcentury design movements, such as new efforts to plan suburbs and Modernism, along with outlines of the impacts of public housing, highway building, and urban renewal, are the focus of the middle chapters of the book. The final third examines the revival of cities and the reconnection of public health with urban planning that occurred as the twentieth century ended.

Download or read book Housing the North American City written by Michael Doucet and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 1991-08-06 with total page 607 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Doucet and Weaver begin this empirical, analytical, and narrative study with an analysis of the evolution of land development as an enterprise and continue with an examination of house design and construction practices, the development of the apartment building, and an account of class and age as they relate to housing tenure. They also relate developments in Hamilton to the current state of urban historiography, using their case study to resolve discrepancies and contradictions in the literature. Among the major themes the authors deal with is a controversial exploration of what they see as a central North American urge: the desire to own a home. Other themes include the social allocation of urban space, the quality and affordability of housing, the increased interest of large corporations in the land development and financial service industries, and a comparative analysis of housing in Canada and the United States. The authors have drawn on civic and business records dating from the early nineteenth century to the latest planning data. Combining this information with their comprehensive analysis, Doucet and Weaver show that current housing problems and potential solutions are better understood when seen as part of a historical process. They provide a critical assessment of the ways in which contemporary society produces shelter and question the use of technical innovations alone to resolve housing crises.

Download or read book The Structure and Growth of Residential Neighborhoods in American Cities written by United States. Federal Housing Administration and published by . This book was released on 1939 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book American Cities and Technology written by Gerrylynn K. Roberts and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-11-01 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Designed to be used on its own or as a companion volume to the American Cities and Technology textbook. Chronologically, this volume ranges from the earliest technological dimensions of Amerindian settlements to the 'wired city' concept of the 1960s and internet communications of the 1990s.Its focus extends beyond the US to include telecomunications in Asian cities in the late 20th century. The topics covered: * the rise of the skyscraper *the coming of the automobile age * relations between private and public transport * the development of infrastructural technologies and systems * the implications of electronic communications * the emergence of city planning.

Download or read book The American Cities and Technology Reader written by Gerrylynn K. Roberts and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Designed to be used on its own or as a companion volume to the textbook, this book offers in-depth readings on the technological dimensions of US cities from the earliest settlements to the internet communications of the 1990s.