Twenty Minutes in Manhattan

by Michael Sorkin

Every morning, the architect and writer Michael Sorkin walks downtown from his Greenwich Village apartment through Washington Square to his Tribeca office. Sorkin isn't in a hurry, and he never ignores his surroundings. Instead, he pays careful, close attention. And in Twenty Minutes in Manhattan, he explains what he sees, what he imagines, what he knows—giving us extraordinary access to the layers of history, the feats of engineering and artistry, and the intense social drama that take place along a simple twenty-minute walk.

Genres: Architecture, Nonfiction, New York, Urbanism, Urban, Urban Planning, Cities

274 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 15, 2009

About the author

Michael Sorkin (1948, Washington, D.C.- March 2020, New York) was an American architectural critic and author of several hundred articles in a wide range of both professional and general publications. He was the Principal of Michael Sorkin Studio in New York City, a design practice devoted to both practical and theoretical projects at all scales, with special interest in sustainable urban environments/green city architecture. He was also Chair of the Institute for Urban Design, a non-profit organization that provides a forum for debate over critical issues in contemporary urban planning, development and design.

From 1993 to 2000 he was Professor of Urbanism and Director of the Institute of Urbanism at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. He has been a professor at numerous schools of architecture including the Architectural Association, the Aarhus School of Architecture, Cooper Union, Carleton, Columbia, Yale (holding both the Davenport and Bishop Chairs), Harvard and Cornell (the Gensler Chair). He is currently Distinguished Professor of Architecture and Director of the Graduate Program in Urban Design at the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture, City College of New York.

Dedicated to urbanism as both an artistic practice and a medium for social amelioration, Sorkin has conducted studios in such stressed environments as Jerusalem, Nicosia, Johannesburg, Havana, Cairo, Kumasi, Hanoi, Nueva Loja (Ecuador) and Wuhan (China). In 2005 -2006, he directed studio projects for the post-Katrina reconstruction of Biloxi and New Orleans.

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you look at my list of titles on Goodreads, you can see that I am interested in books that are in a specific place and time. In many ways I think I prefer that than to say 'character.' But then again I find cities and locations are very much character in the sense that the architectural or urban landscape is a narrative in itself and there lies the suspense and often tells how humans react to that environment.

Michael Sorkin, like a skilled surgeon, writes about his neighborhood in lower Manhattan. And what he sees is visual history slowly and surely disappearing as New York merges into another identity or large shopping mall. The human interaction is still in place, but can one imagine a time where that will also disappear like one's favorite little shop.

Sorkin is an architect, and it is basically the eyes of that occupation that he looks at his home. The first chapter on various staircases in Manhattan is fascinating and scary (due to my vertigo). But he also admires all the quirks and charm of a building that doesn't work perfectly. This is a very human take on a city that is changing but will always be fascinating as well.

[Dario · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Twenty Minutes in Manhattan, Michael Sorkin uses his rambling walk from home to work as a template for an equally rambling and varied book filled with thought provoking asides about living in NYC, and about the nature of cities and living spaces in general. It's all over the place, which can make it somewhat difficult to get into, but it is worth going along with the author for the ride, as it's a really enjoyable and wide ranging book once you get into it.

It's certainly not perfect, though. At times I wondered who he was actually writing the book for, since the language is often needlessly academic, and some sentences are frankly impenetrable. A random but unfortunately typical sentence opening: "The city's variegated scale is part of its genius loci..." My other main complaint is that the book was originally published in the UK in 2009, and for some reason it wasn't revised or updated for its first US publication, leaving some passages are already out of date. Given its inherently visual nature, it would make a fabulous enhanced e-book, and would be markedly more useful with copious photos, diagrams, and video.

This book is something unique, particularly for anyone who has spent some time in NYC. It is unfortunate that it probably will not reach the wide audience it should because of the at times off-putting writing style; if you're willing to slog through some passages that even his dissertation committee would grimace at, it will be worth your while.

[Raja · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are little bits of interesting facts buried among his preachy writing. Not worth the time navigating his rant-like writing

[Hans Mohrmann]

Took a lot longer than 20 minutes.

[David Leeds · Rating 4 out of 5]

I timed myself walking the journey this book is about, and it only took me 16 and a half minutes.

[Andrew]

My first point of comparison is to Marshall Berman's All That Is Solid Melts Into Air -- likewise a eulogy to the New York that once was. The tone of Twenty Minutes in Manhattan is almost purely one of mourning for a time when one could live the Lou Reed sort of dream, one promised to Middle Americans of a certain stripe, and its replacement, the Giulianized and Bloombergized theme park, right on down to detailed accounts of Sorkin's gripes with his landlord. And so, even though it's probably not the intended effect, this is a terribly, terribly sad book. Gorgeously written, rapturous at points, and terribly sad. I loved it.

[Rohan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sorkin is a pretty towering figure in leftist architectural/urban studies and this book, meeting the praise of other important intellectuals in the field like Saskia Sassen and Mike Davis, is a pretty dazzling account of his breadth of knowledge in theories of urbanism and NYC's urban history. A lot of the book predicated on the tension between top-down and participatory planning or the Robert Moses/Jane Jacobs dialectic, and his contributions to this subject, widely written about, are insightful. I'm not sure how effective the book is as an introduction to urban design as I think engaging with the content might require a few intellectual barriers to entry. Sorkin follows a kind of postmodern, wandering writing style that weaves strands a bit ungracefully at times, and some passages verge on vagueness. His inclusion of details can be unfiltered, and it's important to note that the book was written over a 20 year period of "picking up and putting down" which probably contributes to its slight disjointedness. However, Sorkin ultimately urges us to be more attentive spectators and active participants in the balletic motion of modern urban life, and, after his untimely death last year, is an inspiration to us all.

[J.H. Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the structure of this book - Sorkin takes us on a walk from his apartment in Greenwich Village to his office in Tribeca, a walk he has done for 15 years, and discusses the architectural components of the neighborhood as well the sociological structures that hold community together. Much like the walk itself, he does meander off course at times, and there are many digressions from his main topic, but overall that didn't bother me too much. My only quibble: he has a habit of falling into "academic-speak", which makes the writing a bit inaccessible in spots.

[Gillian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meandering and unfocused, plus a lengthy rant about social norms in elevators.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3-4 stars! didn't know which to pick. this book was a fun narrative non-fiction about new york city and architecture. I really liked it and appreciated both the author's writing and knowledge.

[Ivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Вот вроде бы и интересная задумка, однако тухлый язык повествования (или кривой перевод, хотя вряд ли - переводчик в сносках многое поясняет и даже поправляет косяки автора) жутко портит впечатление и читать приходится "через не могу".
Проблемы поднимаются интересные, особенно актуальные для Москвы: джентрификация, отжимание общественных пространств и парков у населения под элитную застройку, размывание облика города в угоду его туристической привлекательности, выдавливание промышленности из города и как результат - невозможность его самообеспечения.
Впрочем, если абстрагироваться от авторского занудства, и попыток скакать с пятого на десятое и постоянно уходить от темы - получается такой американский Варламов без картинок, которому жутко бомбит с того, что его элитный райончик Гринвич Вилидж на Манхеттене становится безумно дорогим местом и постепенно заселяется миллионерами, выдавливая средний класс и бомжей (в последней главе у автора такой-то визг по поводу того, что выселяют безобидных чернокожих бомжей, и им придётся теперь бомжевать по окраинам, а не в центре Нью-Йорка, как они привыкли).

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking forward to a good book on the history of neighborhood architecture in NYC. This book looked like if fit the bill but each section that was defined using a specific neighborhood just gave the author space to pontificate on his own personal beliefs and prejudices. Too bad.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is fitting that a book like this simmers away on an architect's back burner for over a decade before emerging fully flavoured with the char of thousands of walks, the salt of hundreds of coffees, conversations, detours, near-accidents, musings and aggravations, as well as the smoke of world events, political movements, design trends and the shifting moods of one's life. For me, reading this book now is a kind of homage to Sorkin, who tragically died of coronavirus in the current pandemic, someone whose ideas about urban planning and social justice have fed my own.

A bricolage of of personal essay, manifesto, urban policy primer, and architectural treatise, the book is structured like the neigborhood it describes~ a stoop, a stairway, and a square lead to meandering passageways of history and memory, side streets with small gems of information, little pieces of personal memory shaded by political and philosophical bent.

As I'm sure Sorkin would agree, every New Yorker lives in their own New York. Sorkin's city is a contested space, and exists wherever its stakeholders~ its landowners and tenants and non rent-paying residents and communal organisations and policymakers ~can negotiate their terms of use and development, or lack of. If dispute and debate are the dance of the city, these people are the children fighting over the radio station: not everyone's tastes can have equal air time.

And to push this metaphor to it's breaking point, the proliferation of 'celebrity' waterfront property, Trump towers that twist zoning laws to house transient millionaires, top-down approaches to mixed-income housing, and new phenomenons such as the increased cost of living in environmentally 'at-risk' areas like seasides are all increasing the homogeneity and gentrification of historically industrial, working class areas. It feels like Sorkin's New York might be in the midst of its Last Waltz.

This narrowing of mixed uses and mixed demographics in cities pushes people to homogenize within cultures and demographics, even inside diverse cities- as an example, Sorkin points to the situation of the limited supply of space available in Manhattan and asks, "do we support Chinese real estate brokers who only lend to other Chinese" or "neighborhoods, like the ersatz "quarters" of Disneyland, maintained as phony representations of ecologies they do not support?" I hope not.

For as anyone who has been as unfortunate as my parents were to have to listen to the "It's a Small World After All" tune on repeat due to a stubborn child's obsession with that particular boat ride knows, what is magical for some is hellish for others. To visit Disneyland for a day is a treat, to live inside its candy-colored walls is a dystopian dream that would have Disney himself shuddering in his (fake news) cryogenic death chamber of tomorrow.

[Mehdi Habibzade · Rating 3 out of 5]

«معماری در نقطۀ تلاقی هنر و دارایی شکل می‌گیرد و این یکی از دلایل بی‌شماری است که معماری تصویری خوانا از تاریخ زندگی اجتماعی به دست می‌دهد.»
«بیست دقیقه در منهتن» که حاصل سال‌ها پرسه‌زنی و زندگی در نیویورک است، تصویری از یک زندگی اجتماعی است که در قالب ارزش‌های شهروندی، دغدغه‌های محلی، روابط انسانی و مناسبات اقتصادی مشخصی آشکار می‌شود. به کمک این کتاب که از روایت وقایع روزمره تا کنکاش در مفاهیم بنیادی معماری را یک‌جا گرد آورده، می‌توان فهمید که معماریِ شهر، چگونه همۀ این عوامل ناهمگون را در خود تجسم می‌بخشد. کتاب به سبک متن‌هایی نوشته شده که تحلیل‌های نظری را با ارجاعات مکرر به تجربیات معمول بسط می‌دهند و در نتیجه می‌توانند مخاطب غیرمتخصص را هم به درگیرشدن در موضوع ترغیب کنند. به علاوه این کتاب با اتخاذ رویکرد و موضعی مشخص نسبت به معماری و شهرسازی نوشته شده که در آن، روابط انسانی، ارزش‌های شهروندی و رفتارهای دموکراتیک در شکل‌دادن به معماری و شهرِ خوب نقشی کلیدی داشته و می‌توانند معیارهایی برای معماری باشند. از نظر سورکین شهر نه فقط به واسطۀ قابلیت‌هایش برای سکونت و آسودگی بلکه همچنین بر اساس امکان‌هایی ارزیابی می‌شود که می‌تواند برای هم‌زیستی توأم با مدارا، مشارکت اجتماعی، فعالیت سیاسی و مقاومت مدنی در اختیار شهرنشینان بگذارد. این نوع نگاه که امکان‌های فنیِ معماری را با شکل روابط انسانی شهری پیوند می‌دهد، وارث یک سنت فکری است که بیش از همه در آثار جین جیکوبز، نقش مهمی در نقد معماری مدرنیستی و تعدیل عقلانیت تکنوکرات آن داشته است. این کتاب همان‌قدر که به مطالعات معماری مربوط می‌شود، وام‌دار بینش‌هایی است که به صورت سنتی دیرپا از مارکس و بودلر تا بنیامین، کراکائر و مارشال برمن، معطوف به فهم مدرنیته در وجوه تناقض‌آمیزش بوده‌اند. خواننده برای درک عمیق‌تر مسائل مطرح در این کتاب می‌تواند به اثر درخشان برمن «تجربۀ مدرنیته» رجوع کند که آخرین فصلش به بحث دربارۀ نیویورک اختصاص دارد، کلانشهری که با همۀ افت‌وخیزها و تناقض‌های ناگزیر و روابط دوسویه‌اش با ارزش‌های دموکراتیک، مظهر مجسمی از مدرنیته است.

[Zara Karami · Rating 5 out of 5]

#معرفی_کتاب
برداشت‌های من از این کتاب و لذتی که از خواندنش بردم، با میزان اطلاعاتم از حوزه‌ی شهرسازی به عنوان رشته‌ی تحصیلی‌ام گره خورده است. با این‌حال اگر از فصل اول کتاب که مقادیری داده‌های تخصصی دارد، بگذریم، این کتاب برای هر شهروندی که به حیات شهری می‌اندیشد منبعی مناسب خواهد بود. نویسنده تجربیات شخصی خود از شهر را با داده‌های متنوعی در هم ریخته و متنی آفریده که هرچه جلوتر می‌رود، بیشتر خواننده را به خود جذب می‌کند. بنابراین ماحصل کار، کتابی تخصصی اما خواندنی است که اطلاعات خوبی درباره‌ی تاریخ شهرهای مهم به ویژه آمریکایی به مخاطب می‌دهد.
📖تغییر شکل شهرها با دیزنی‌لند
بخشی از کتاب را که درباره جریان جهانی شدن شهرهاست، خیلی پسندیدم. در این بخش نویسنده به سراغ دیزنی‌لندها می‌رود و آن‌ها را به مثابه آرمان‌شهرهای مدرنی می‌داند که با نظم و نظافت مجموعه‌ای از تفریحات مناسب را در اختیار خانواده‌ها می‌گذارد. موفقیت جهانی دیزنی‌لندها، رستوران و فروشگاه‌های زنجیره‌ای در سراسر دنیا تاثیر زیادی در رواج ساخت‌وسازهای این‌ چنینی در راستای اهداف سرمایه‌دارانه داشت. این جریان پر طرفدار در نهایت بسیاری از کسب‌و کارهای قدیمی را به حاشیه راند و یا به کل نابود کرد.

#گزیده_کتاب
شهر مدرن سبک خود را برای گم شدن ایجاد می‌کند که ریشه در شکل خاص از خودبیگانگی آن دارد. شهر صنعتی التهاب کهن گم‌گشتگی فضایی (مازها و لابیرنت‌ها) را با دریای بی‌پایان قانون‌ها عوض کرده است. مکانی با خیابان‌ها و ساختمان‌هایی که یکسان به نظر می‌رسند. گلایه‌ی همیشگی از برنامه‌ریزی مدرنیستی نیز همین است، این‌که تشخیص یک بلوک آپارتمان از بلوک‌های دیگر ناممکن است؛ محیط خود را دوباره و دوباره و دوباره تکرار می‌کند. این را در شانگهای، هاوانا و نیویورک دیده‌ام. ویران‌شهر محبوب امروزی: آسمان‌خراش‌های شبیه به هم در سراسر جهان، استارباکس در ابوظبی، کوالالامپور ، لندن و حومه‌های پکن.

[Behrang · Rating 4 out of 5]

امروزه برای چشیدن لذتی تمام‌عیار، فقط باید پیاده‌روی کرد.
رابرت لوئیس استیونسون، «سیر و سیاحت با خر»

یک‌جانشینی یگانه گناه واقعی در پیشگاه روح‌القدس است.
فریدریش نیچه، «اینک انسان»

کتاب «بیست دقیقه در منهتن» اثر مایکل سورکین، سفر شهری جذاب و متفاوتی است که معماری، زندگی روزمره و فلسفهٔ پنهان در خیابان‌های نیویورک را با نگاهی عمیق و گاه طنزآمیز بررسی می‌کند. سورکین، معمار و منتقد شهری، مانند راهنمایی دقیق و کنجکاو، خواننده را در مسیر پیاده‌روی روزانه‌اش از آپارتمانش در گرینویچ ویلج تا محل کارش همراهی می‌کند. مسیری که تنها بیست دقیقه طول می‌کشد، اما دنیایی از داستان‌ها، تاریخ و تحلیل‌های اجتماعی را در خود جای داده است.
این مسیر بهانه‌ای است برای پرداختن به موضوعاتی به‌ظاهر نامرتبط: از تاریخچهٔ آسانسورها تا پیامدهای جهانی‌سازی و معماری مدرن. هر جزئیات شهری، دریچه‌ای می‌شود به گفت‌وگو درباره عدالت اجتماعی، طراحی شهری و معنای زندگی در کلان‌شهر. سورکین با چیرگی، زمان‌ها را درهم می‌آمیزد و گذشته، حال و آیندهٔ شهر را به تصویر می‌کشد: از محله‌های فراموش‌شده تا طرح‌های ناتمام بزرگراه‌ها، از شبکه‌های اجتماعی امروز تا تصوراتی از شهری فردا با بام‌های سبز.
نثر خودمانی و صمیمی کتاب چنان است که گویی در قدم‌زدن با نویسنده شریک شده‌اید و به گفت‌وگویی جذاب دربارهٔ رازهای پنهان شهر گوش می‌دهید. «بیست دقیقه در منهتن» نه‌تنها برای معماران و برنامه‌ریزان شهری، بلکه برای هر عاشق کشف رازهای شهرهای شلوغ، خواندنی و الهام‌بخش است.

[Sarah Critchley · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many gems in this book that I had to bust out the highlighter as I was reading. The organization of the book is loosely based on the author's walk to work from his Greenwich Village apartment to his studio in Tribeca, and each distinct geographic area gets its own chapter. But within each chapter, Sorkin definitely uses the area as more inspiration to discuss his thoughts on the development of the modern city. The first chapter, for example, all takes place under the title "The Stairs" (referring to those in his apartment building) but he manages to fit in a blend of history and commentary about how architecture should function at "the intersection of art and property," the grid system and its flaws, and introduces his love for Jane Jacobs, equity, and the importance of preserving a democratic spirit in neighborhoods. I am no architect but I'm interested in architecture and urban development, and I think I fall into the category of audience that Sorkin intended; the book isn't dumbed down but it's pretty accessible. And it will make you miss walking the streets of New York City. It's very sad that Sorkin died last year of Covid-19 because I would have loved to have read his thoughts about how the pandemic has affected city life.

[Camilo Olaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Architecture is produced at the intersection of art and property, and this is one of the many reasons it so legibly records the history of communal life."

This was a fun read for me since I live in Lower Manhattan and walk around the many neighborhoods described in this book. I found it to be an interesting mix of urban design and architectural theory, with a mix of personal anecdotes and stories that allowed us to see how these grand theories impact our daily lives. I definitely want to walk this route, and see Sorkin would see his walk. I am extremely curious to see what he thinks of the changes that have occurred since this book was published in 2012, along with his ideas on current rezoning efforts and the implementation of Congestion Pricing. I enjoyed this book but ultimately it did not wow me, though I did not expect it to.

[Duncan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice bit of escapism back to one of my favourite places in the world (Greenwich/West Village in NYC), when I can't physically be there. However, beware that a 'twenty minute' escape leads to twenty hour journey, complete with a tangent to go along with each observation made by the author long his walk from home to work. Some of these are fascinating and educational, while others mundane but entertaining (the entertaining bit will depend on your sense of humour... a little Larry David like, particularly the bit about the elevators). Despite the 3 star review, I absolutely loved following along the walk on Google Maps and envisioning each step and dreaming of getting back there in years to come. If you're into architecture, development, and urban planning you'll enjoy this book.

[Ng Ning · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started off interesting but it got a little tiresome to read after a while.

The writing is considerably rambly, filled with some really inane details about the author’s life and petty opinions about the happenings in the city. There is also a regretful lack of visuals in this book which would have made for good visual reference for the many places mentioned in writing.

The arguments and analyses are scattered throughout the book, woven into his observations of the city, meandering as he does on his walk around the neighbourhood. If you are looking for a well-constructed, cogent thesis, this isn’t the book for you.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I diligently read the first 150 pages then skimmed through the rest. There are way too many specific references to be interesting to someone with a casual interest in architecture and only a couple brief visits to New York. The author’s meandering thoughts barely followed the structure of the book with way too many failed segues needing “back to...” and “let’s return to..” because he was too far off topic.

I would recommend this book to someone that exactly meets both the following criteria:
1) an extreme interest in architecture, to the point of casually referencing specific styles and designers
2) detailed knowledge of New York streets and neighbourhoods

[Brooke Dexter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Sorkin’s passion for cities is infectious through his writing. A mix of history, architectural criticism, and anecdotes, this book allows you to talk a walk through his part of Manhattan on his regular route, one he’s followed for decades. The section on stairs got a little dense and academic for my taste, but otherwise I loved this book and took a lot of inspiration from it.

I was new to his writing and this made me understand what a huge loss our profession experienced with his death last year. He clearly was such a charismatic advocate for the best possible version of our cities and public space.

[Berna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arka kapakta yazdığı gibi, her şehrin bir Michael Sorkin'inin olması lazım. Yalnız ben Sorkin'e bir flanör demezdim. Aksine, attığı her adımda bilinçli tercihlerinin peşinden, 'şehir hakkı'nın peşinden giden biri. Şehirciliğe, mimarlığa, New York tarihine ya da genel olarak kente ilgi duyan herkesin keyifle okuyacağı bir kitap.
Kitabı okuması aslında çok rahat, yalnız Sorkin'in kelime dağarcığının genişliği beni zaman zaman zorladı. Onun dışında bir, yalnızca bir küçük kroki ya da harita olsaydı en sonda, New York'a hakim olmayan okurlar için de Sorkin'in rotasını rahatça takip etme imkanı olurdu.
Son tahlilde çok çok güzel bir kitap.

[Cflack · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book as a gift. As someone who has as an MA in Urban Studies (from the 1980s) and who visits New York City once a year it was a great selection. I expected the book to be a light jaunt about walking through the west village and Soho, but it ended up being a much more deep NYC history and a bit too much of his adversarial relationship with his long term landlord.

The book was written in 2008 and one of the most interesting things about it was that trends that we underway in 2008 really came to fruition now in 2020.

[Sabra Kurth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a delightful romp through the Village in Manhattan—part history, part politics, part urban studies. Mr. Sorkin, who died earlier in 2020 from Covid-19, described his daily commute from the Annabel Lee apartments to Hudson St. and in an add-on chapter, Varick St. He described how this part of city changed, why, and what could and probably should have been done differently to make that area of the city better for all rather than just a well-heeled few.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some books are written to be written, others to be read. This is the former, but still a pleasure to the reader. Filled with fascinating insights and anecdotes, This book is hard to put down once begun, and well worth the journey. Classify it as you wish: architecture, sociology, history, public administration, or geography. (Odd to write, but I misplaced it weeks after starting it and rediscovered it only a few days ago.)

[Joseph Riviello · Rating 2 out of 5]

DID NOT FINISH:

i did not enjoy this book. It was fairly boring. I got about 20% through. I flipped through the rest and realized it wasn’t going anywhere for me.

I rated it 2 instead of 1 because if you are interested in architecture or engineering you would probably enjoy this book a bit, and it had some fun tidbits like stuff about scissor stairwells.

I don’t know, not my favorite thing ever

[Saeed Sarraf · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب بیست دقیقه در منهتن رو به عنوان اثری که بتونه بهم دید معماری بده شروع به خوندن کردم. توقعم از کتاب بالا بود اما چیزی کمتر از توقعم نبود. نویسنده که معماره، دیدی شهرسازی داره که به عبارتی مملو از نگاه اجتماعی هست‌. نویسنده در توصیفاتی که از نیویورک داره سیر پولی تر شدن شهر و اینکه چگونه سرمایه داری به حقوق شهروندی تجاوز میکنه رو توضیح میده. از سمتی نیویورک از قوانین سفت و سختی برای ساخت و ساز و حقوق مستاجران برخوراره اما نویسنده تعریف میکنه که ذره ذره قوانین و اجرای اون ها بیشتر به سمت منافع سرمایه داران و سازنده ها سوق پیدا میکنه. یکی از معایب کتاب اینه که اگر بخوایم درک درستی از مطالبش داشته باشیم، باید شناخت مناسبی از الگوها و مثال های معماری غربی داشته باشیم و هم اینکه بدونیم درباره کدوم ساختمون های نیویورک صحبت میکنه. طبعا شناخت مخاطب عام چیزی فراتر از ساختمون امپایراستیت نیست. لذا کتاب که متاسفانه هیچ عکسی نداره میشه گفت تا حد زیادی برای مخاطبی که نیویورک رو نمیشناسه گنگی ایجاد میکنه. البته اگر کسی حوصله داشته باشه احتمالا با جستجو کردن عکس ها میشه این نقیصه رو جبران کرد. از سمت دیگه یکی از خوبی های دیگه کتاب اینه که به مخاطبی که به معماری صرفا علاقمنده و اسامی معمارانی مثل لوکوربوزیه رو شنیده اما دربارشون شناختی نداره این دید رو میده که منظور از معماری مدرن چیه و چه تحولی ایجاد کرده بوده. نویسنده مدافع سفت و سخت حفظ ساختارهای محلی و بازارهای کوچکه و ارزش اون هارو به انباشت روابط اجتماعی میدونه و ارزش این رو مهمتر از ادعاهای معماری مدرن میدونه که قائل به الگوهای همه شموله.

[Stefani · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yeah, I'm no longer as obsessed with NYC as I used to be. I should've read this sooner. Also, it's an architecture book and I only cared about the author's observations on other things mingled with buildings and construction commentary. Not my cup of tea.

[Vincent Ribeiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an architect born and raised in NYC, I truly appreciate the little adventure Sorkin took us on his walk. I found myself marveling over the similarities between his experiences and my own, as his analysis of urban planning, architecture and societal structures unfold in joyful commentary.