Cities for the New Millennium. (London Evolution).Edited by Marcial Echenique and Andrew Saint. London: Spon Press. 2001. [pounds sterling]32.50 In a large format book-of-the-conference 19 authors explore the urban future. Most of us already know as much as we want to about the high-density city versus low-density sprawl argument and have made up our minds. Here, quiet commonsense com·mon·sense adj. Having or exhibiting native good judgment: "commonsense scholarship on the foibles and oversights of a genius" Times Literary Supplement. is voiced in Michael Breheny's discussion of densities and sustainable cities A more sustainable city, Ecopolis (city) or Eco-city, has fewer inputs (of energy, water, food etc) and fewer waste products (heat, air pollution, water pollution etc) than a less sustainable city. In this context, sustainability is a relative concept. , while in a sparkling essay Richard Sennett Richard Sennett (born Chicago, 1 January 1943) is the Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and Professor of the Humanities at New York University. argues that globalization globalization Process by which the experience of everyday life, marked by the diffusion of commodities and ideas, is becoming standardized around the world. Factors that have contributed to globalization include increasingly sophisticated communications and transportation engenders civic indifference. Several of the most absorbing contributions discuss the experience of the Netherlands, not only the coalescence coalescence /co·a·les·cence/ (ko?ah-les´ens) the fusion or blending of parts. co·a·les·cence n. See concrescence. coalescence a fusion or blending of parts. of the cities of the Randstad into a Deltametropolis (Howard's Social City writ large), but also the trend of the non-urban areas to evolve into Frank Lloyd Wright's Broadacre City Broadacre City was an urban or suburban development concept proposed by Frank Lloyd Wright late in his life. He presented the idea in his article The Disappearing City in 1932. A few years later he unveiled a very detailed twelve by twelve foot (3.7 by 3. . Mary Comerio's chapter 'Designing for Disaster: The Urban Future' is concerned only with natural catastrophes, noting that neither taxpayers nor the insurance industry can cope with the scale of disaster payouts, and speculates on the future of disaster management. The concluding section is the most absorbing. Catherine Cooke, the historian of pre-Soviet and Soviet planning ideologies, brings us up to date with a discussion of current Russian planning ideologies and housing practice. Deborah Howard evokes the remarkable history of Edinburgh's Old and New Towns where 'its underclass is nearly invisible, relegated to the grim wastes of the estates at the ends of the bus routes'. Finally Andrew Saint in a delicious conclusion, reminds us of the real lessons that London's evolution provides. |
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