Main entry:

Hall, Peter, 1932-2014, author.

Title & Author:

Cities in civilization / Peter Hall.

Edition:

1st American ed.

Publication:

New York : Pantheon Books, ©1998.

Description:

xiii, 1169 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references ([1051]-1134) and index.
Book 1. The city as cultural crucible. Great cities in their golden ages -- The fountainhead, Athens 500-400 BC -- The rediscovery of life, Florence 1400-1500 -- The world as stage, London 1570-1620 -- The city as pleasure principle, Vienna 1780-1910 -- The capital of light, Paris 1870-1910 -- The invention of the Twentieth Century, Berlin 1918-1933 -- The key to creativity -- Book 2. The city as innovative milieu. The innovative milieu -- The first industrial city, Manchester 1760-1830 -- The conquest of the oceans, Glasgow 1770-1890 -- The pioneer of technopolis, Berlin 1840-1930 -- The mass production of mobility, Detroit 1890-1915 -- The industrialization of information, San Francisco/Palo Alto/Berkeley 1950-1990 -- The state as permanent innovator, Tokyo-Kanagawa 1890-1990 ; The innovative essence -- Book 3. The marriage of art and technology. The invention of mass culture -- The dream factory, Los Angeles 1910-1945 -- The soul of the Delta, Memphis 1948-1956 -- The secret of the marriage -- Book 4. The establishment of the urban order. The challenge to the urban order -- The imperial capital, Rome 50 BC-AD 100 -- The utilitarian city, London 1825-1900 -- The city of perpetual public works, Paris 1850-1870 -- The apotheosis of the modern, New York 1880-1940 -- The city as freeway, Los Angeles 1900-1980 -- The social democratic utopia, Stockholm 1945-1980 -- The city of capitalism rampant, London 1979-1993 -- The achievement of the urban order -- Book 5. The union of art, technology, and organization. The city of the coming golden age.

Summary:

Ranging over 2,500 years, Cities in Civilization is a tribute to the city as the birthplace of Western civilization. Drawing on the contributions of economists and geographers, of cultural, technological, and social historians, Sir Peter Hall examines twenty-one cities at their greatest moments. Hall describes the achievements of these golden ages and outlines the precise combinations of forces -- both universal and local -- that led to each city's belle epoque. Hall identifies four distinct expressions of civic innovation: artistic growth, technological progress, the marriage of culture and technology, and solutions to evolving problems. Descriptions of Periclean Athens, Renaissance Florence, Elizabethan London, and nineteenth-century Vienna bring to life those seedbeds of artistic and intellectual creativity. Explorations of Manchester during the Industrial Revolution, of Henry Ford's Detroit, and of Palo Alto at the dawn of the computer age highlight centers of technological advances. Tales of the creation of Los Angeles' movie industry and the birth of the blues and rock 'n' roll in Memphis depict the marriage of culture and technology. Finally, Hall celebrates cities that have been forced to solve problems created by their very size. With Imperial Rome came the apartment block and aqueduct; nineteenth-century London introduced policing, prisons, and sewers; twentieth-century New York developed the skyscraper; and Los Angeles became the first city without a center, a city ruled instead by the car. And in a fascinating conclusion, Hall speculates on urban creativity in the twenty-first century. This penetrating study reveals not only the lives of cities but also the lives of the people who built them and created the civilizations within them. A decade in the making, Cities in Civilization is the definitive account of the culture of cities.

Resources:
Contributor biographical information
Publisher description

ISBN:

0394587324
9780394587325

Subject:

Cities and towns History.
Cities and towns Growth History.
Civilization.
City and town life.
Villes Histoire.
Villes Croissance Histoire.
Civilisation.
Vie urbaine.
civilization.
Cities and towns
Cities and towns Growth
Geschichte
Kultur
Stadt
Steden.
Cultuur.
Ontstaansgeschiedenis.

Form/genre:

Writings.
History

Holdings:

Location: Library main 205814
Call No.: NA44.H178.A35 1998
Status: Available