City Riffs: Urbanism, Ecology, Place

by Richard Plunz

City Riffs traces the changing perspectives of urban design within an ever-changing global context. Moving between sixteen cities, the book also considers trans-disciplinary aspects of urbanism; formal and informal growth in Kumasi and Caracas, post-colonial structures in New Delhi and Prague, post-urban phenomena in Detroit and Brussels; cultural transitions in Antwerp and Salzburg; the changing nature of place in Seoul and Mostar; and new ecological realities in New York and Rome. Urbanism is viewed as the production of space-integrating aspects of design, ecology, and engineering, as well as other influences on urban cognition such as social, economical, and psychological interactions. As it covers a wide range of places and methods, this book will be an asset to anyone who works on, lives in, or thinks about cities.

160 pages, Paperback

Published May 22, 2017

Reviews

[Bbearbeez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read for short snippets of some very insightful stuff about urbanism. It's very interesting to see that a lot of issues and concerns that were being discussed in the urban design space 20, 30, 40 years ago is still relatively similar presently. Great selection of brief case studies from all over the world, supported by the diagrams at the end of the book. You can just tell the passion Plunz has for urbanism in the way these excerpts are written so evocatively... its infectious!