The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations, and Its Prospects

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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1961 - Architecture - 657 pages
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD. A definitive classic, Lewis Mumford's massive historical study brings together a wide array of evidence -- from the earliest group habitats to medieval towns to the modern centers of commerce -- to show how the urban form has changed throughout human civilization.
Mumford explores the factors that made Greek cities uniques and offers a controversial view of the Roman city concept. He explains how the role of monasticism influenced Christian towns and how mercanitile capitalism shapes the modern city today.
The City in History remains a powerfully influential work, one that has shaped the agendas of urban planners, sociologists, and social critics since its publication in the 1960s.
 

Contents

PREFACE xi
3
THE CRYSTALLIZATION OF THE CITY
29
ANCESTRAL FORMS AND PATTERNS
55
TOMBORIENTED CITIES
84
ROYAL MAKERS AND BREAKERS
84
THE TRAUMA OF CIVILIZATION
84
CITY AND WORKING QUARTER
84
SACRED MOUNTAIN DELPHI
84
THRICE USABLE SPACE
200
BAROQUE DYNAMISM
200
BAROQUE FORMALISM 29 THE COURTLY LIFE 30 ARISTOCRATIC OPENNESS
200
PALATIAL PERSPECTIVES 32 EXTENSION AND ENCYSTMENT GRAPHIC SECTION III
200
MEGALOPOLIS INTO NECROPOLIS
205
CLOISTER AND COMMUNITY
243
MEDIEVAL URBAN HOUSEKEEPING
281
MEDIEVAL DISRUPTIONS MODErn anticipATIONS
315

ATHENIAN POWER AND FORM
84
ANCIENT WAYS MODERN DAYS
84
MILESIAN ORDER
84
CLASSIC CORE POMPEII
84
POMPEIIAN DAILY LIFE
84
POMPEII AND PAVIA 15 TEMPLE AND SUPERMARKET
84
CROWD CONTAINERS GRAPHIC SECTION II
84
THE NATURE OF THE ANCIENT CITY
94
EMERGENCE OF THE POLIS
119
CITIZEN VERSUS IDEAL CITY
158
HELLENISTIC ABSOLUTISM AND URBANITY
183
Between pages 200 and 201
200
MONASTIC ORDER
200
MEDIEVAL OXFORD
200
DOMINANCE AND ENCLOSURre
200
THE STONES OF VENICE
200
CEREMONY AND PLAY
200
CHRISTIAN IDEALS
200
FLORENCE
200
RENASCENCE COMPOSURE
200
Between pages 318 and 319
318
COMMERCE COMMANDS
318
GETTING AND SPENDING
318
ORGANIC PLANNING AMSTERDAM
318
PRIDE OF BATH
318
UNDER ONE ROOF
318
INDUSTRIAL COKETOWN
318
PALEOTECHNIC INFERNO 41 MODEL INDUSTRIAL VILLAGE
318
THE STRUCTURE OF BAROQUE POWER
344
COURT PARADE AND CAPITAL
375
COMMERCIAL EXPANSION AND URBAN DISSOLUTION
410
PALEOTECHNIC PARADISE COKETOWN
446
SUBURBIAAND BEYOND
482
THE MYTH OF MEGALOPOLIS
525
RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT
568
BIBLIOGRAPHY
579
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
635
INDEX
637
Copyright

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About the author (1961)

Lewis Mumford (1895-1990) was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1955 and received the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964. He is the author of The City in History, The Culture of Cities, Condition of Man, Interpretations and Forecasts, and Sketches from Life.

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