The City Shaped: Urban Patterns and Meanings Through History [Paperback]

Spiro Kostof (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0821220160 | ISBN-13: 978-0821220160 | Publication Date: May 4, 1993

Spanning the ages and the globe, Spiro Kostof explores the city as a "repository of cultural meaning" and an embodiment of the community it shelters. Widely used by both architects and students of architecture, The City Shaped won the AIA's prestigious book award in Architecture and Urbanism. With hundreds of photographs and drawings that illustrate Professor Kostof's innovative ideas, this has become one of the most important works on urbanization.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Kostof has done it again; in prolific fashion he has produced another standard textbook. This time his subject is cities rather than architecture, which he covered in A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals ( LJ 6/1/85). This book will appeal especially to designers, architects, and planners, as it organizes its subject matter according to what form it takes (grids, diagrams, skylines, etc.) rather than chronologically, topically, or typologically, as do other surveys of urbanism. Kostof is a master tour guide, blessed with an easy writing style, a piquant, welcoming mind, and a worldwide mastery of his subject matter. This book is certain to become a classic in its field comparable to Lewis Mumford's Culture of Cities (1933) and Mark Girouard's Cit ies and People ( LJ 10/15/85).
- Peter Kaufman, Boston Coll.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Spiro Kostof (1936-1991) was a professor of Architectural History at the University of California at Berkley, and also taught at M.I.T., and at Yale, Columbia, and Rice universities. His many books include The Architect: Chapters in The History of the Profession (1977) and A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals (1985), now a standard text. He edited America by Design (1987), the companion to a five-part television series that he presented. Kostof also published The City Shaped with Bulfinch Press in 1991.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Bulfinch (May 4, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821220160
• ISBN-13: 978-0821220160
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 1.1 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,638 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic, May 4, 2005

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Reader in St Pete (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The City Shaped: Urban Patterns and Meanings Through History (Paperback)

Well written, consistently interesting and structured around the challenges of topography and the urban form demands invoked by market needs, political architectures and cultural expectations through history, this beautifully illustrated book delivers the promise of its title and a lot more.

Because the author, Spiro Kostof, organized his book by patterns and topological relationships, the text compresses history and geographies into a comparative perspective. This presents a disadvantage to the reader if he/she is interested in only one time, one culture or even just one architectural movement.

On the other hand, the comparative perspective lends authority to Kostof's overarching theoretical approach of connecting urban forms to content and how those relationships persist across the spectrum of the human experience. A must for any architect's or planner's library.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a guidebook of magnificent ideas on city, February 23, 2001

By 

Li Xiangning (Shanghai, China) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The City Shaped: Urban Patterns and Meanings Through History (Paperback)

Perhapes part of Kostof's category for urban patterns( as organic, grids, grand manner....) is arguable, but his wonderful ananlyses for each individual sample lead us into deeper understanding of urban patterns and social meanings behind. Many cities familiar to most of us (Siena, Paris, New Dehli....) appear refreshingly unfamiliar in his book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A well-written foray into urban formation, October 9, 2006

By 

Apurva Rastogi (Chicago) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The City Shaped: Urban Patterns and Meanings Through History (Paperback)

Spiro Kostof's book is a fantastic and intelligent foray into urban form. What I found most appealing about the book was his approach in grappling with the WHY of things; in describing how certain urban forms have come to pass, he offers the requisite determined factors as any architect of the City ought to do and then manages the neat trick of gracefully acknowledging that these factors do not necessarily lead to a single outcome. But he is intrepid in his analysis and his approach. Beginners may find this book difficult because it does assume a basic understanding of cities and city planning; however, ambitious readers should give it a try. Mr. Kostof's cultural and historical references and his non-linear style are extremely appealing and intriguing, so much so that I will continue on to "The City Assembled", the companion piece, with great eagerness.