Cosmopolis II [Hardcover]

Leonie Sandercock (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0826470459 | ISBN-13: 978-0826470454 | Publication Date: February 2004

The 21st century will be the century of multicultural cities, of the struggle for equality and diversity, and the struggle against fundamentalism. "Cosmopolis II presents a truly global tour of contemporary cities. Passionately written and superbly illustrated with a range of specially commissioned images, "Cosmopolis II is a visionary book of our urban future.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The best contemporary text for teaching planning history and theory."

About the Author

LEONIE SANDERCOCK is Professor of Urban Planning and Social Policy in the School of Community and Regional Planning at The University of British Columbia, Vancouver. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Continuum International Publishing Group (February 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826470459
• ISBN-13: 978-0826470454
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,971,328 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This mongrel is a mutt!, February 12, 2006

By 

Johnathan Nwadike, Esq. (East St. Louis, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cosmopolis II: Mongrel Cities of the 21st Century (Paperback)

This overview and mini-diatribe tries to pick up where Cosmopolis left off, and succeeds rather well--unfortunately, Sandercock's first book in this series didn't really take us anywhere. She seems to be responding to criticism that her superficial synthesis of multicultural planning theory is long on posture and short on application, but there isn't enough meat on this dog's bones to really meet these expectations. Chapter 6, "There is no hiding place: Integrating immigrants," best addresses these concerns. However, her attempt at positive recommendations quickly decays into another hodgepodge of case studies a la Cosmopolis I, where planners' previous mistakes are scowled upon as cautionary tales, with no path to an enlightened practice shown for the reader.
Overall, a well-intentioned work, but incomplete. Sandercock's ivory-tower theorist's perspective belies her self-proclaimed gritty street-level expose of the 'invisible.' It is left to the reader, or a researcher more inspired than herself, to give this stray dog a home with the working planner.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Planning comes of age?, January 9, 2007

By 

Dr. Ian Alexander (Perth, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cosmopolis II: Mongrel Cities of the 21st Century (Paperback)

Leonie Sandercock has produced a magnificently readable and cool 'sequel' to her 1990s offering of Cosmopolis. Cosmopolis II is a breath of fresh air in the increasingly stale debate over urban planning processes and their links to theory. This could take planners beyond the 'facilitating/mediating' role in battles over planned developments and their impacts, particularly on marginalised peoples and groups. Planners need to become listeners rather than stage-managers, to learn the community's stories and aspirations BEFORE, not after, firm plans or alternatives are devised. A more inclusive approach, which affords communities the chance to tell their own stories and to identify the special values and places in their environments that they want respected, is called for. Sandercock gives current examples of such approaches restoring the development balance in favour of people. They are drawn from progressive 'mongrel cities' : this is not a mere post-modern pipe-dream.

4.0 out of 5 stars Paradigm Crisis?, November 20, 2010

By 

S. Apell (Dallas, Tx United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cosmopolis II: Mongrel Cities of the 21st Century (Paperback)

Sandercocks book transports the readers to a different realm of a world where difference is celebrated and not avoided. The text forces the reader to confront the realities of our less than perfect society and dares to propose solutions that can only be achieved in utopia. overall a good read for a planner who desires to open the mind to a new world of possibilities; and maybe even a paradigm shift which is much needed in the era of postmodernist relativist limbo.
One thing that did not appeal to me though were the graphic images which i believe is somehow celebrated creativity but i find rather unappealing .overall a very interesting book that provided food for thought. Highly recommended