DAVID GRAHAME SHANE
Brand New Book. At the end of World War II many European and Asian cities lay in ruins and in need of reconstruction, leaving millions of people homeless refugees. Urban Design Since 1945 details how this crisis was confronted by architects and urban planners. It examines the attempt to solve this problem through industrialization of housing and the machine city model on both sides of the Iron Curtain and charts the emergence of urban design as a distinct, fragmentary profession within the global network city in Europe, America, and Japan. Given the landscape of the near future, the book asks how planners will reach such goals as sustainable development, equity, and social justice
Synopsis:
Urban Design Since 1945: A Global Perspective reviews the emergence of urban design as a global phenomenon. The book opens with the urgent need to rebuild cities and re-house the millions of refugees living in camps and shantytowns at the end of the Second World War. Against More...
By outlining the dominant models in urban design over the last sixty years - the metropolis, the megalopolis, the fragmented metropolis and the global megacity - the book provides an essential framework for students of the subject.
Featured case studies include:
¦the rebuilding of metropolitan capitals in Europe and Asia, such as Berlin, London, Moscow, Tokyo and Beijing
¦the construction of new towns like Nowa Huta, Poland; Harlow, UK; Chandigarh, India; Brasilia, Brazil; Milton Keynes New Town, UK; and Shenzhen, China
¦the megalopolis as a global phenomenon from the American East Coast, Texas, California, Arizona and Florida, with examples from Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, such as Caracas, Venezuela
¦the fragmented metropolis as a global phenomenon, with American, Asian and European examples, such as Downtown and Midtown (New York), Shinjuku (Tokyo), Canary Wharf (London), La Défense (Paris) and Potsdamer Platz (Berlin)
¦megacities as a global phenomenon, such as Jakarta in Indonesia or Bangkok in Thailand, that include urban agriculture and urban villages, as do shrinking eco-city regions such as Duisburg, Germany or Detroit, USA
¦World's Fairs such as Brussels 1958 and Osaka 1970 which feature as drivers of innovation, as do Olympic events in Tokyo (1964), Barcelona (1992), Beijing (2008) and London (2012).
