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Title: The City in Mind: Notes on the Urban Condition by James Howard Kunstler ISBN: 0-684-84591-1 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 01 January, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.06 (17 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Inconsistent - Kunstler can do better
Comment: I preface this review by noting that I've read both of Kunstler's previous books and, although is style is more of a rant than a balanced presentation, his point about our current cities has been valid. Kunstler also serves the great purpose of making his argument about city design very accessible to the layperson who might not otherwise read on this important topic.
So, it was with some moderate anticipation that I purchased 'The City In Mind'. This particular book is very weak in comparison to the others. Kunstler deviates far too much into history and does not show or adequately explain the benefits of all the older cities he claims are so good. (I don't dispute that many of them ARE better; I merely point out that Kunstler did not serve his own purpose well.)
The section on Rome was the most disappointing. He did little (almost nothing) to describe the tremendous humanity and scale that Rome has. Nor did he adeqautely explain Roman town planning, an important background that underlies many extant European cities today.
Kunstler is on an important mission, one which I support. However, if he intends to keep or expand his current readership, he needs to rally his arguments better than he did in this volume. - For readers new to this topic, start with Kunstler's valuable 'Geography of Nowhere'. His best efforts are to be found there.
Rating: 4
Summary: Notes from a curmudgeon
Comment: In many ways, James Kunstler's "The City in Mind: Notes on the Urban Condition" is simply one long bash against big cities. London is "sordid", Mexico City is a "hypertrophied organism", Las Vegas a "dubious urbanoid organism", Atlanta is a "galaxy of Edge City projects tied together by freeways and gruesome collector streets." Paris, Boston, Berlin and Rome don't fare much better. Good golly, it almost makes you wonder why we city-dwellers have actually chosen to live here.
A book subtitled "Notes" is entitled to be personal, random and subjective. Taken as such, there's a good deal here to inform, entertain and warn: Just don't expect objectivity or sensible suggestions for improvement. Kunstler sees the urban future given over to "tarantulas, buzzards and rats." But many of we city-dwellers live where we do because of the complicated histories behind our places of abode and the disordered messiness of the buildings, streets, parks and people. "The City in Mind" feeds that craving by telling some genuinely interesting stories about the background of these cities.
Kunstler uses Rome to digress on classical architecture, Mexico City to retell the history of Mexican Indian civilization and its effect on modern urban bureaucracy, and Berlin to tie a community's self-image to its choice of architecture. The problem is that, since he concentrates only on a few aspects of each city's development - and usually negative aspects, at that - readers not personally familiar with these cities are going to get a very distorted view of them. I know most of these cities, I've lived in more than one, but I still don't trust the picture presented of the couple I haven't personally visited.
At least one can't accuse the author of a foolish consistency. The chapter on Mexico City describes in some sympathetic detail the possible reasons behind the Aztecs' docility in the face of Spanish assault. But another chapter fails to identify the exact same phenomenon in Atlanta suburbanites who are faced with the carnage caused by automobiles sharing space with humans. He condemns Boston's plan to use the 27-acre site over the Big Dig for a huge "open space", but is as "shocked" as a Victorian maiden when startled by another man enjoying London's Hampstead Heath who steps into his path from behind one of the trees in a "thicket of real woods."
I suspect that most of the negative reviews of this book have come from people who have seen their favorite cities gored by Kunstler. It's fine for us to complain about our cities, is the attitude, but we just don't appreciate visitors from Saratoga Springs doing the same thing. That's unnecessarily defensive. Our cities have burned to the ground (Atlanta and London), been bombed into smithereens (Berlin), and fallen on hard times (Rome and Paris). They will survive a curmudgeon.
Rating: 2
Summary: Stick to commentary on the urban condition...
Comment: While Kunstler in the past has accurately described the current dilemma of the space in which we live, particularly in the Geography of Nowhere and Home from Nowhere, his focus is much less acute in this text. Take his chapter on London--instead of his usual critical eye discussing the landscape of London, we get a rehashed lesson in history and countless digressions in reference to other cities topped off with a remark about homosexuals in a park. Most annoying however, is his increasing penchant for attacking individuals rather than problems (note his inexcuseable comments about a woman who has just lost her husband in his chapter on Atlanta). His anger may keep him vigilant on the subject of suburban sprawl, but it often times detracts from the reader empathizing with the position he puts forward.
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Title: Geography Of Nowhere: The Rise And Declineof America'S Man-Made Landscape by James Howard Kunstler ISBN: 0671888250 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 26 July, 1994 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: HOME FROM NOWHERE: REMAKING OUR EVERYDAY WORLD FOR THE 21ST CENTURY by James Howard Kunstler ISBN: 0684837374 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 26 March, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream by Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Jeff Speck ISBN: 0865476063 Publisher: North Point Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs ISBN: 067974195X Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 November, 1992 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Edge City : Life on the New Frontier by JOEL GARREAU ISBN: 0385424345 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 01 September, 1992 |
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