Customer Reviews

Integral City: Evolutionary Intelligences for the Human Hive

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

 

 

I read this book as a volunteer activist interested in community engagement and the dialogical processes. I was expecting to gain insight into the social dynamics of city life as it relates to growth, change, development and problem solving. These expectations were met and exceeded resulting in a personal change of consciousness. I will never again see cities in the same light, or with the same innocence. The analogy of the city as a bee-hive used throughout the book has altered my understanding of the physical, social and spatial nature of cities. On a personal level it has challenged my unconscious assumptions about what entails a healthy, livable city and how personal behavior contributes to collective health.

For those who like charts, diagrams and systematic ways of processing information, this book is full of goodies. I would highly recommend it for city planners, environmentalists, policy makers, social activists and everyday citizens such as myself.

This is a fantastic book... the author has created an 'authentic' view of the city as a holistic space worthy of our respect as a complex and evolving hive. I have not found a more complete and integrative work on the complex relationship humanity has with the city, the community and its institutions.

As a graduate student in Public Administration, this book has shaped and developed my own perspective of community and the next steps that the field of administration must take.

The book offers solutions for the modern administrator from an integral perspective, many of which I am currently using in my own administrative role in the multi-agency environment.

I recommend this book to anyone who is involved with their community and to those 'integralists' out there who will undoubtedly enjoy this application of integral theory to a subject that we are all intimately familiar with.

I read this book with an eye to promoting health and doing community development work in both rural and urban settings. This book provides a wealth of information that is both big picture and holistic and also focuses on practical applications. The book is well organized and strategies are easily implemented on the ground. I have had the pleasure of consulting with Dr. Hamilton on a number of issues related to health in the City and she has provided support, direction and mentoring in applying the principles contained in the this helpful resource!