The Highway and the City

by Lewis Mumford

A collection of essays by the respected social commentator on some problems faced by cities such as New York, Philadelphia, and Paris, on the architecture of Saarinen, Le Corbusier, and Wright, and on city and highway planning.

Genres: Architecture, Urbanism, Urban, Sociology, Transport, History, Urban Planning

246 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1963

About the author

Lewis Mumford (October 19, 1895 – January 26, 1990) was an American historian and philosopher of technology and science. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a tremendously broad career as a writer that also included a period as an influential literary critic. Mumford was influenced by the work of Scottish theorist Sir Patrick Geddes.

Reviews

[Peter Bednár · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of somewhat obscure essays is where most of the famous Mumford zingers come from. The first and the last essays are still the best description of all urban paralyses caused by the automobile. Some haven’t noticed but Mumford did right as it was happening, with the worst still yet to come.

[Rock · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been a long time since I read The City in History, to which this book is billed as a companion piece, but I recall it being a more coherent work than this and also more reflective of its title. The Highway and the City turned out to be a collection of mostly architectural reviews first published in magazines. Despite the effort made to group the essays geographically, they don't really cohere and they certainly don't build any kind of epistemological structure. More annoying for me, since I picked the book up thinking it would largely treat with the concepts in the title, architecture is more frequently dealt with than urban design.

But crotchety old Mumford is always fun to read, so breezing through this slight book isn't a chore. And while he is rarely overtly theoretical, Mumford is mostly theoretically consistent, so a careful reader will certainly get something out of it. Finally, the last 5-6 essays, specifically dealing with urban design, are mostly well done (especially the last, the title essay) and engage with the theoretical debates of the day. It is easy to imagine Mumford's uneasy stance between Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses, and while his failure to ever come out and say directly what he means leads him to contradict himself every once in a while, it lends itself well to his consistently humanist position feels more natural for it.

[Tyler Morley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking for a city-planning book, but he spends most of his time on architectural aesthetics, like complaining about the "contrast of gray concrete and yellow London brick...spoiled by the housewives' passion for pink and blue curtains".

He had some interesting ideas about designing spaces that are protected from motor vehicle traffic (pointing to Rotterdam as a good example), and "mixed neighborhoods, able to sustain more than one urban function and demanding far less vehicular transportation". He also had some ideas I didn't like, such as building small "New Towns" outside large cities to draw people away and avoid the need to build tall apartments in the big cities.

With a title like "The Highway and The City" I expected there to be more about transit, zoning, governance, and the like.

[Patrick\ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Formed much of my current urban design thoughts.

[Matico · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting revisionary ideas about modern architecture from the American critic. This book, which resulted from a European voyage, furnishes the itinerary for another...

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I'd been able to finish my language of the city project. Maybe when I'm a librarian I'll pick it back up.