Main entry:

Clay, Grady.

Title & Author:

Real places : an unconventional guide to America's generic landscape / Grady Clay.

Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1994.

Description:

xxiii, 297 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 270-290) and index.
Section 1. The center: the death and life of centrality : Back there : The capital ; The courthouse door/yard/square ; Dateline ; Declining area ; Downtown ; The good address ; Holdout ; The landing ; The light ; Meeting place ; Photo opportunity ; Porno district ; The row ; The start ; Town creek -- Patches : Arrest house ; Curbside ; Disaster area ; Drug scene ; Emergency center ; Hub ; Lighting district ; Mixed/multi-use complex ; No smoking area ; Party street ; Riotsville/riot city, U.S.A. ; Riot scene ; Safe house ; The scene ; Superblock ; Tourist information center -- Perks : Air rights area ; Cultural arts district ; District ; Event/festival site ; Parade route ; Presidential site ; Security ; Skyline -- Section 2. The front: the struggle for control : Ephemera : Arrival zone ; Boomtown ; Changing neighborhood ; Community bonfire ; Destination ; Drop zone ; Earshot ; Floodway ; Gentrifying neighborhood ; Gunshot ; Hangout ; Hurricane path ; Impact area ; The setting ; The setup ; The site ; Toads ; Vacant lot ; Viewshed/the view ; Wreck site -- Testing grounds : Active zone ; Annexation area ; Convenient location ; growth area ; Growth control district ; Open site ; Shortcut ; Speculative site ; Study area ; Temporary housing development -- Border zones : Browsers' village ; The burn ; The edge ; The edge of town ; Last chance ; Lovers' leap ; Springdale/field/house/hurst ; Suburbia ; Twilight zone ; The village -- Section 3. Out there: life in the great beyond-the-bypass : Power vacuum : Abandoned farm/area/town ; The boondocks ; The dark ; Depressed area/region ; Dump ; Ghost town ; The ruins ; Sink ; Suicide spot ; Tent city -- Opportunity sites : Airspace ; Battlefield/ground ; Blast site ; Bypass ; Camp ; Fall color country ; Flea market ; Flight path ; The furrow ; The ice ; The mailboxes ; Pacific rim ; Presence ; The sand castles ; Solar farm ; Windfarm -- The limits : Avalanche zone ; The beach ; Bioregion ; Downwind ; Drought area ; The fishery ; Greenbelt ; Hazardous waste dump ; Holding pattern ; Irrigated area/lands ; The Kudzu ; Lulu ; National border ; National sacrifice area/zone ; The public domain ; Speed trap/zone ; Water ranch ; Wetlands ; Whale watching site.

Summary:

Today's "good address" may be tomorrow's "changing neighborhood," with "drug scene" and even "ghost town" not too far off. The "edge of town" may be overrun with "speculative sites." A "depressed area" could be turning into a "growth area" and "lovers' lane" into a "trouble spot." In these "generic man-made sites," urban observer and commentator Grady Clay discovers the key to understanding our cultural geography. Although they can't be found by name on most maps, these places exist in every city and do similar work. Defined by cultural, political, and economic needs rather than any natural boundary, "Fall Color Country," "The Good Address," and "Disaster Area" are primarily creations of the human mind. These are just some of the places Clay takes us through in this delightful, original guidebook to our ever-changing man-made landscape.
Clay explores the deep structure of human adjustment to time and place: to traffic and congestion, war, weather, and machines, and the expanding presence of other people. He also tracks the play of language as it opens up and represents real worlds, showing how place-naming is the key to managing new environments. From the boondocks to the back forty, from gastown to crack corner, we name these places to get a handle on the unfamiliar - to make them our own.

Resources:
Publisher description
Table of contents

ISBN:

0226109461 (cloth ; alk. paper)
9780226109466 (cloth ; alk. paper)

Subject:

Landscapes United States.
Cities and towns Terms and phrases.
Human geography United States.
Paysages États-Unis.
Géographie humaine États-Unis.
Villes Mots et locutions.
Cities and towns
Human geography
Landscapes
Manners and customs
Travel
Landschaft
Führer
Paysage États-Unis.
United States Description and travel.
United States Social life and customs 20th century.
États-Unis Descriptions et voyages.
États-Unis Mœurs et coutumes 20e siècle.
United States
USA
États-Unis Moeurs et coutumes 20e siècle.
Social life

Form/genre:

Dictionary
Führer.
dictionaries.
Dictionaries
Dictionnaires.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 104259
Call No.: ID E169.04.C57; ID:94-B1951
Status: Available