HC 223H Reading Cities

This volume considers the state of the city and contemporary urbanisation from a range of intellectual and international perspectives. Whilst considering established themes, such as urban divisions and differences, publics and cultures, politics and planning

For millennia, the city stood out against the landscape, walled and compact. This concept of the city was long accepted as adequate for characterizing the urban experience. However, the nature of the city, both real and imagined, has always been more permeable than this model reveals. Urban Imaginaries offers case studies on cities in Brazil, Israel, Turkey, Lebanon, and India, as well as in the United States and France, and in doing so blends social, cultural, and political approaches to better understand the contemporary urban experience.

A great city is not an exquisite, completed artifact. It is a dynamic, constantly changing place that residents and their leaders can reshape to satisfy their demands. This book discusses the history, demographic composition, politics, economy, topography, history, layout, architecture, and planning of great cities, as well as he interplay between people and public realm, and how they have interacted throughout history to create great cities.