Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
City: A Guidebook for the Urban Age
by
P.D. Smith (Goodreads Author)
For the first time in the history of our planet, more than half the population-3.3 billion people-is now living in cities. City is the ultimate guidebook to our urban centers-the signature unit of human civilization. With erudite prose and carefully chosen illustrations, this unique work of metatourism explores what cities are and how they work. It covers history, customs...more
Hardcover, 400 pages
Published
June 19th 2012
by Bloomsbury Press
(first published March 27th 2012)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
385)
Peter sent me a copy of this, and I love it. Not so much a linear read for me - although you could absolutely approach it that way and it would deliver - as a selection of insanely fascinating sections about cities and how they came to be what they are, what they are and may become, the forces at play inside them and how those forces show themselves in architecture and society. In many ways the perfect brainfood for a writer, and a book you can dip into and immediately get lost in. Korea's new d...more
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)
This is being promoted as one of those "NPR-worthy" books that combines an academic's precision with the witty style of a commercial writer, all about the rise and development of urban centers over the last 20,000 or so years of human history. But alas, this slick, photo-heavy doorstop seems to have been d...more
This is being promoted as one of those "NPR-worthy" books that combines an academic's precision with the witty style of a commercial writer, all about the rise and development of urban centers over the last 20,000 or so years of human history. But alas, this slick, photo-heavy doorstop seems to have been d...more
Lavishly illustrated and larded with juicy anecdotes, this is a comparative study of cities through their major components--gates and walls, temples, transport hubs, hotels, bureaucratic centers, water systems, marketplaces, parks, cemeteries, treasuries, places of entertainment, street food carts, ghettos, suburbs, libraries and prisons. Smith darts from ancient Sumeria to Modern Shanghai, and from the Utopian green crystal of the fictional city in We to the nightmare of Metropolis and the line...more
I found the book a great flip through and learn from book. It is academic enough to stimulate, but it is highly readable and accessible. The only complaintis that the book itself, physical not content, is too small. I would love some of the images and illustrations at a larger scale. The are really the driving force of illustrating the different development patterns and other characterizations demonstrated in the text.
Th is book would be a get tool for citizen planners or those interested in u...more
Th is book would be a get tool for citizen planners or those interested in u...more
May 12, 2013
Elaad Yair
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
People who like architecture, history and, of course, urbanism.
City by Peter D Smith is an ambitious project. The author attempts to cover all aspects of urbanism, a phenomenon that has been touching the life of literally billions of people within a time span of thousands of years. In slightly more than 300 pages (that include many examples of a magnificent well-selected urban photography) he covers numerous topics such as the history of ancient cities, their evolution and development, architecture, urban planning, street food, shopping, entertainment, cult...more
I liked the book a lot. It covered diverse topics and skipped around a lot but it was enjoyable. It had a lot of information packed in 400 pages. The authors style is easily digestible. It is fun to read especially if you like to know a little about everything. I probably prefer to know nothing about everything than everything about nothing. Definitely enjoyable.
If you enjoy the hustle and bustle of urban areas, you might like this book, modeled after those ubiquitous travel guides featuring a particular metropolis. P. D. Smith takes you through various areas and attractions found in virtually every city: downtown, street food, parks, and transportation, among others. Smith also draws parallels between historic cities and those of today, showing that cities have always been a place for innovation and development.
Covered basically all the bases I might have in a book on cities--coffee shops, flaneurs, The Walled City of Kowloon, graffiti, department stores--but in superficial fashion. I didn't learn anything. Maybe better as an introduction than a book for an urbanophile like me.
Mar 07, 2013
Christine
is currently reading it
A quick, easy and interesting read. I started this book probably in January but was able to put it down while reading other things and to then pick it up again without losing anything.
Worth browsing. Some interesting material. Tenochtitlan as discovered by the Spanish.
A bit dry at times, but overall an interesting look into the origins and history of various aspects of a city (layouts, transport, buildings, markets, street food, etc.) that does a good job of showing how the same elements reappear in different forms throughout time.
Dec 22, 2012
Clare Cannon
marked it as grg-reviewer
HS to review @ www.GoodReadingGuide.com
A collection of vignettes categorized into building type or functionality-- a pleasant mix of anecdotes, history, and spatial studies.
Dense, readable, most essential areas of city living from way back when to right here and a little beyond. Bought and read because in my capacity as (the video) part of an international research team in sustainable urban development, urban mobility, and public space. General background on this subject has been amply filled with this book.
A good update on the topic with a number of recent findings, facts, thoughts and ideas neatly and appropriately incorporated.
looked promising as a coffee table book but was written like a text book...too text heavy, information overload, and just boring snoring
This was an incredible, thoughtful read.
this book is terrible. completely uninteresting collection of factoids, no inclusion of serious or even pop social theory, urban design, etc. reads (and looks) like a crappy grade school text book.
Informative, but not dry. With some philisophical inclination at last chapter.
Interesting, an examination of City as a concept, its history and its constituent parts, chatty/anecdotal style
Definitely an interesting look at the past, present, and future of cities.
Lyric and poetic description of city life
Yawn. Clinical and uncompelling.
May 17, 2013
Elena
marked it as to-read
May 16, 2013
Erica Ayotte
marked it as to-read
May 15, 2013
Beth
marked it as to-read
May 15, 2013
Colin Marshall
marked it as to-read
May 14, 2013
John Bush
is currently reading it
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
P.D. Smith is an independent researcher and writer. His most recent book is City: A Guidebook to the Urban Age, published by Bloomsbury in 2012. His previous book, Doomsday Men: The Real Dr Strangelove and the Dream of the Superweapon (2007, Penguin), was described by the Daily Telegraph as "chilling" and "irresistible".
He regularly reviews non-fiction books for the Guardian, and has also written
...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
