Customer Reviews

Streets for People: a Primer for Americans

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Rudofsky wrote the book at the height of the first huge wave of emirgration to the suburbs, when cities were of nearly the least interest to people and the suburbs and their malls were where it was at. Now, years later, we have suburbs that are scrambling to rebuild themselves like cities and malls that have fallen prey to even bigger malls with more drawing power/gravity to pull in more shoppers. There is even a website called deadmalls.com to document the dead malls in America, the most famous of which is the long, long dead Dixie Mall in Harvey, Illinois, featured in the movie "The Blues Brothers".

I wonder what Rudofsky would think of Transit Oriented Development or The New Urbanism, just to name a few. He might well applaud them and say that he told us so. I wonder if he might even let someone drag out of him any grudging acceptance whatsoever that good urban design might exist in America, or if he might even expand his approval to speak up for affordable housing at all income levels, thereby expanding that label's appeal. Now, it just means Low Income Housing and Those People.

Given the times in which he wrote this book, the early to middle 1960s, I can somewhat forgive him for saying, "Those God-awful, Philistine Americans, they don't know the beauty of Europe". However, I think that the market has determined what people can and cannot take from their suburbs, and they are starting to demand better urban design based on the cost of doing the same old things in areas that are necessarily 40 miles away from the central city, if not further.

I may criticize this book somewhat, but let me tell you this: This book made me want to be a city planner, a dream I have made come true, when I read this book at the tender age of 14 or 15. I picked this book up and could not put it down. My library in my small town of Jackson, Michigan, had a copy and I either checked it out or read it numerous times. I think I even called Mrs. Rudofsky to offer my condolences after calling information for his number or looking it up on microfiche (oh, those pre-Internet/Mosaic/Netscape days!). I was so isolated in the dream that this book started that I didn't even know urban planning existed as a profession, much less that I could aspire to it.

In the end, take this book with a grain of salt, understand the author's biases and the times in which it was written. It may well have started an urban design revolution that many recent books in that field have continued.

This is one of my all-time favorite books. Great writing and terrific illustrations. It is not only a wonderful reference book on architecture, history and urban life, it is the perfect travel book. Reading it before going overseas for the first time was the best preparation I had for appreciating other world architecture and history. Visiting people-friendly streets and public places inevitably leads the traveler to some of the most interesting spots in the world. It was Rudofsky's rhapsodic writing about Bologna, for example, that took me there and hooked me for life on that wonderful city.
Rudofsky's passion for pedestrian-centric cities is gradually seeping into the consciouness of U.S. urban planners. What a huge improvement in American urban living there could be if the public insisted that developers go back to the basics that Rudofsky preaches when building public buildings and private residences.
PS--I was devastated when my original copy of this book finally fell apart from years of use--but was thrilled to find that it was still in print and available through Amazon.

Another beautifully illustrated book by Bernard Rudofsky (author of "Architecture without Architects", still in print), this time with ample commentary detailing the significance of pedestrian culture across the globe. One wonders whether Victor Gruen and Rudofsky personally knew each other and, if so, who was a greater advocate of street culture. I myself rarely walk anywhere, but, when I do, their appreciation of its pleasures informs every moment.

A wonderful book, though rather sad for an American to read. My copy, the first in paperback, is now more than 40 years old and I still get pleasure, tinted with nostalgia, whenever I dip into it again.

I bought it upon my return from my first extended stay abroad - 2 years in London, a year in Frankfurt. Its images of Europe were spot on. We lived in London (North Kensington) at the top of a garden square (Campden Hill Square) with Holland Park a few blocks to the west and Kensington Palace Gardens/Hyde Park a few blocks to the east. If we wanted to go beyond walking distance, say to Regent's Park or Covent Garden, there were 2 bus lines and an underground station just across the street. There were several pubs within a few blocks, and cheap but good Indian restaurants nearby where a tasty, filling meal could be had for a few pounds. We had no car and didn't need one. We had a car in Frankfurt, but mostly used it for trips into France. Again, within a few blocks were several parks, Bierstuben, and the like.

Now I live in an American suburb (Marana, just outside Tucson, Arizona). It's a nice place, clean and safe, no snow or ice to slip on, and of course of primary importance, affordable. Property taxes are reasonable, HOA fees are low. But although we have sidewalks (much of Marana, and even of Tucson, doesn't), and a good public library, that's where such amenities as Europeans take for granted end. There are no parks (a few places are called parks but are really only playgrounds), no shaded walks though the desert sun is usually scalding, no benches along the sidewalks, no public bathrooms except at the library, no water fountains though desert dwellers are always at risk of dehydration, no decent restaurants within walking distance (for anything beyond fast-food we have to drive into Tucson), no public transportation to speak of. What is really disappointing is that this whole area is new, much of it built within the last 20 years. It was built from scratch, no historic roadways or anything else to preserve, so anything could have been done at minimum cost. One example of the complete lack of planning or even common sense. There is a golf course here built below ground level. The view from above it is stunning. A restaurant there with plate glass windows over the course would be gorgeous, would probably draw patrons from miles around. So what is there? An Ace hardware store with a blank wall facing the course! Remembering how every little square in Europe had flowers, a pub or café or bistro with tables outside (in a climate much harsher than Arizona's), sometimes a bandstand with ad hoc concerts at lunchtime, and experiencing the sterility surrounding us here, one wants to cry.

So why don't we live in a city like Manhattan, Boston, or San Francisco? Perhaps because a garage space in those cities costs more than our 3-bedroom house in Marana. Before we moved to Tucson, we lived for a few months in Pacific Beach, one of the shore communities of San Diego. We loved it - with perfect temperature year round, an endless boardwalk, lots of funky little restaurants and higher-end emporia a few miles away, and the fabulous San Diego Zoo a short drive, what's not to love? So we went shopping for a house or apartment to buy. We found a mews house, perhaps 12-feet wide and 4 stories high - probably hard to live in, but in an ideal location. We guessed it could cost as much as a quarter million dollars (this was 20 years ago), which would push our budget to the limit, but what the hell, I called the agent. She told me that it had just come onto the market and would not last long at the extremely reasonable offering price of only $800,000, so we'd better come quick. Instead, we drove to Tucson and found a much more comfortable house just outside, in Marana, new and well-built with warranties on everything, for just over $100,000. By the way, a few years ago, before the collapse of the housing bubble, I checked apartments in Pacific Beach on Realtor.com. At the Capri, a very nice building just below La Jolla, I found a 1 bedroom/1 bathroom on sale for only $915,000, a 2 bedroom/2 bath for $2.4 million. (Today you can pick up such apartments for much less, only $600,000 for the 1 bedroom, a mere $1.5 million for the 2 bedroom. Why not buy two?)

The point of Rudofsky's fine book is that in Europe you don't have to be super rich to enjoy public parks and other amenities. In the US, you did, and you do. Pity.

I read this book over 20 years ago and yet its impact stays with me. It's on my list to acquire (used as it's out of print) and re-read.

When I read Streets for People, I was not yet an engineer, but was already very interested in the interaction, overlap and tension between aesthetics and function. This book gave me a new environment within which to think of these themes, and has made me permanently more aware of the life on streets and sidewalks, of the trade-offs between downtowns and malls, etc.

As another reviewer has mentioned, our thinking as a culture about streets and homes and the integration of residential and commercial functions has changed over time, and I look forward to re-reading and seeing how many of the ideas in this book have been more implemented in the last 20 years.