Customer Reviews

The City Shaped: Urban Patterns and Meanings Through History

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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 Kostof's cultural and historical references and his non-linear style are extremely appealing and intriguing, so much so that I will continue on to "The City Assembled", the companion piece, with great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.

Probably the most comprehensive guide to the thoughts, theories and practical aspects of designing a city. Buy it and weep for your boring grid plan cities....

este livro possui indicacoes excelentes para um pesquisador da forma urbana e da historia da cidade trilhar seus conhecimentos.

pesquisa seria e escrita magnifica.
boa escolha.

This field of study has been a lifelong interest. It is a worthy addition to a basic library, and I bought it as a Xmas gift to a young friend who shares my interest.

This book is definitely not a casual read. Unfortunately, our professor chose this book for our History in Urban Planning course. Kostof wrote this book using big words, it seems, trying to prove his mastery and great command of the English language. Making it worst is his inference from numerous examples that baffles the beginning learner with no previous historical knowledge of urban forms. It takes three hours to read something that should only take one and you will only understand 35% of what was read. If you have the patience and commitment to learn history...in urban planning, the book gets better later on. Therefore, I changed my 1 star to 2 stars. Nevertheless, I still hate this book but for a good laugh, I might keep it on the coffee table and refer people to this book when they ask what Urban Planning is all about.