Showing posts with label cities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cities. Show all posts

Who's Your City?: How the Creative Economy Is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life Review

Who's Your City: How the Creative Economy Is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life
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Who's Your City: How the Creative Economy Is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life ReviewIt's frustrating to read books like this. Florida's insightful observations are undermined by the number of errors in this book.
Florida melds psychology, sociology, and economics to try to determine the importance of humanity's displacement from rural areas to cities and, now, megalopolises. Some of the ground he covers is well-trod, but he comes up with a number of ideas that I find insightful. I particularly liked his categorization of urban districts into such places as, e.g., strollervilles (wealthy neighborhoods full of two-year-olds being strolled around by nannies while Daddy is at the law firm and Mommy is either working or doing something else), designer digs (e.g., Aspen, La Jolla), ethnic enclaves (think Fremont, Calif.), preservation-burgs, and boho-burbs (chic neighborhoods, often on old streetcar lines, with lively shopping areas; e.g., the Sellwood district and N.W. 23rd Ave. in Portland, Ore.). The Rockridge neighborhood in Oakland, Calif., is both a strollerville and a boho-burb. Florida goes beyond the usual accolades one might expect to be conferred on such places to point out their drawbacks. It's very well done.
If only Florida and his publisher had taken better care to vet the manuscript before publishing it! I'd read only a few pages before I started noticing typos: paarticular, New "Dehli" (must have excellent pastrami sandwiches), São "Paolo," Brazil (must have changed its official language to Italian). Then I started noticing factual oddities: Seoul, Korea, described in two different and seemingly mutually exclusive categories; San Francisco described as a place in which single women predominate when the accompanying map shows just the opposite. By the end of the book, the number of glitches had made me suspicious of every empirical datum Florida was presenting--so that when I read his statistic that only 1 in 20 U.S. households contains someone living alone, I couldn't trust it. It sounded too low. I went to the Internet and found an Associated Press report that "About 27.2 million Americans lived alone in 2000, accounting for about 26 percent of all households . . . ." That sounds right. A Population Reference Bureau web page confirms that Florida's statistic is highly inaccurate.
In summary, the book is well worth reading for Florida's impressionistic observations, but I'd be careful about relying on any conclusion he draws that is based on empirical data.Who's Your City: How the Creative Economy Is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life Overview

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Nurturing Dreams: Collected Essays on Architecture and the City Review

Nurturing Dreams: Collected Essays on Architecture and the City
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Nurturing Dreams: Collected Essays on Architecture and the City ReviewBased on Maki, the book covers primarily two things.
1. contemporary city.
2. modernist philosophy and diverse phenomenat it generated.
It's a collection of handsome essays that help readers to understand
the mindset of this great architect and also the writing and practice
culture of Japan.
The first section of the book, "formative years", reveals Maki's early quest and thirst
in architecture. We went back and forth between nations and cultures to
embrace the globally accepted architecture and hone universally applicable
design skills. His memories and stories about former GSD Dean, Josep Lluis Sert,
is particularly fun read. His trip to historical towns and his relationship
with the heros of Team X is also a great personal story.
The second section, "collective form", tells Maki's long-sought-after urban
attitude. Based on the analysis of historical towns, Maki draws lasting principles
of collective form and constantly questions and reviews how it could be applied
to the different time zone with chaning living mode. The latter half of the chapter
is devoted to his Hillside Terrace Project. Over period of twenty five years,
in six different phases, Maki's theoretical urbanism manifesto is tested and evolved
through this project.
The third section of the book, "on the city", really shows Maki as an educator.
His research and his views on contemporary cities are well put together. Two essays on
Tokyo and one essay on his cremotorium really stands out. Three essays show how more or less
an outsider of Japanese-architects-circle (Maki studied/ practiced/ taught in the USA for over
ten years) distances himself from his native culture to throw fresh look to the community.
Moreover, the essays become dramatic because they show how Maki, an international figure,
uses universal language to draw out deep Japanese.
The last section, "on architects and architecture", explains how Maki thoroughly reviews
works of others. Two essays on Togo Murano and Yoshio Taniguchi really stands out.
It's informative not only in knowing the historical background of Japanese modern-contemporary
architecture and the two architects, but also in understanding Maki's own stance as an
architect. Mastery in Space and Materiality comes out as binding factors for the three architects.
All in all, a prospect reader will find, Maki as an apprentice, Maki as a (city) truth seeker,
Maki as an outsider (to be true insider), and Maki as a master. Few great architects in the world
practices richly what's been professed and Maki is one of them.

One last note:
Most of people know that star architects in Japan are great designers, however, not many know that they are also
great writers. Thanks to this publication of Maki's (and Isozaki's "Japaness in architecture"),intellectual force
of top Japanese architects is available in English. Kengo Kuma and Tadao Ando also wrote great books recently in Japan.
Hope their publication also become available to English audience soon.Nurturing Dreams: Collected Essays on Architecture and the City Overview

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Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City (Columbia History of Urban Life) Review

Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City (Columbia History of Urban Life)
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Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City (Columbia History of Urban Life) ReviewWhen I started this book, I thought that it would be a slow and plodding reading.
Not so! It moves along nicely and really gives you an in depth look at what made
Koch the man and mayor he was. Well researched and full of the details that a
history buff would want. I am not through yet, but I love it. The author should
mimic a phrase from the subject and ask "How am I doing?" The answer is you are
doing great! Read this book and enjoy a lovely look at history.Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City (Columbia History of Urban Life) Overview

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To Transform a City: Whole Church, Whole Gospel, Whole City Review

To Transform a City: Whole Church, Whole Gospel, Whole City
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To Transform a City: Whole Church, Whole Gospel, Whole City ReviewAs the Community Ministries Pastor at Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock and member of the leadership team of the Nehemiah Network, a relational network of pastors seeking the unite the church in our community to live and serve as the Body of Christ, I can say from personal experience, this book is must read for anyone (experienced or new to city reaching) desiring to reach their city. I ordered 25 copies of the book on pre-order to give to two different leadership teams and I am confident I will need more. I believe many will find the first chapter on "The Importance of Cities" worth the price of the book and it keeps getting better with each chapter. Order today, but don't just buy one; get enough for your whole team.To Transform a City: Whole Church, Whole Gospel, Whole City OverviewIn the year 2007, the number of people living in the cities of the world---finally and irreversibly---exceeded the number of people living in rural areas. The earth's population is now more urban than rural, and Christian leaders are trying to figure out what this means for the church. Pastors and kingdom-minded leaders know they need to engage the surrounding community with the gospel but are unsure about how to do so. Ministering in diverse and populous areas brings a unique set of challenges and promises. Evangelistic strategies that work in rural areas seem to bounce off of people in the cities, forcing church leaders to reevaluate church effectiveness. They see that the arena for significant impact is the surrounding community. The wide-open potential for spiritual and social change on this larger scale requires that leaders leverage the multivalent domains of their communities to solve problems the entire city cares about. Eric Swanson and Sam Williams have been working together with missional leaders from cities around the world trying to discover examples and principles of city transformation. They try, investigate, and share effective and proven ways for ministry leaders to mobilize for spiritual impact and partner with other community organizations for societal good. This book is a call to action for spiritual and societal transformation. The authors begin casting their vision for God's work in cities with an overview of the importance of cities in the twenty-first century. They address the process of community transformation along with examples of where and how cities have been changed for the good throughout history. They challenge readers to a vibrant kingdom-orientation in their ministries and use the concepts of 'whole church, whole gospel, and whole city' to explain this large vision. They encourage people of good faith to work together with people of goodwill for the common benefit of cities around the world.To Transform a City is a timely, compelling book that helps readers explore the reality of cities, the potential of their own communities, and the broad strategies churches and Christian leaders need for kingdom impact.

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