The Living City: How America's Cities Are Being Revitalized by Thinking Small in a Big Way (Paperback)

by Roberta Brandes Gratz (Author) "To visit Savannah, Georgia, at the end of March is to experience the kind of spiritual revival that any resident of a winter-ridden Northern city..." (more)
Key Phrases: urban rebirth, planned shrinkage, retail anchor, New York, Banana Kelly, South Bronx (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Gratz defines the phenomena of "urban husbandry" as the care, management and preservation of the built environment nurtured by participatory planning efforts of government, urban planners and average citizens. She dramatically demonstrates that we can learn from the costly, overscaled, raze-and-build urban renewal disasters of the past. Includes inspiring case histories of determined people who transformed their devastated neighborhoods.

From the Back Cover
THE LIVING CITY

"An intelligent analysis. Sensible, undoctrinaire, even good-humored. An appealing mixture of passion and clinical dispassion."
–Washington Post Book World

"The best antidote I’ve read to the doom-and-gloom prophecies concerning the future of urban America."
–Bill Moyers

"This is fresh and fascinating material; it is essential for understanding not only how to avoid repeating terrible mistakes of the past, but also how to recover from them."
–Jane Jacobs, author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities

From coast to coast across America there are countless urban success stories about rejuvenated neighborhoods and resurgent business districts. Roberta Brandes Gratz defines the phenomenon as "urban husbandry"–the care, management, and preservation of the built environment nurtured by genuine participatory planning efforts of government, urban planners, and average citizens.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (June 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471144258
• ISBN-13: 978-0471144250
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #703,359 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great look at how cities live and die!, November 10, 1999

By	Walli Haley ([e-mail]) (El Paso, Texas) - See all my reviews

Gratz explores how and why cities survive, thrive and die and explores why small, incremental change is often a more successful revitalization strategy than super "downtown malls" or sportsplexes.

It turns out the key to a lively and lovely city is people of all socioeconomic brackets who actually LIVE downtown, which attracts business, arts and culture!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable Resource, August 11, 2006

By	Margaret (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

This book is an invaluable resource for those wishing to know more about the multitude of small projects that have taken place across the United States in recent years which have had a positive impact in their respective city's regeneration process.
Lots of details for those wishing to undertake such a project in their own city.
Information about how to save our built heritage and NOT uproot those who currently reside in these places.
Stories of community design at its best, as well as stories of courage and perserverence.
Reading them restores one's faith in the possibilities of doing good in our inner cities.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't Puzzle The Reader, June 15, 2006

By	J. Labarbera (Purchase, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After working on a project with Roberta in New Orleans, it was a delight to read her book. The subject matter was never something that interested me, but she writes it in such a way that it is relateable for everyone, just not architects or city planners. Her style is interesting and her ideas are well thought out.