In the past 50 years since both Kevin Lynch and Jane Jacobs seminal pieces provided new dissemination regarding urban design theory. Since these two great books, the Image of the City and Death and Life of Great American Cities, there has been a plethora of books that have impacted on the Urban Design profession.
I have put together a list of the five most influential books which I believe are a must for any upcoming and practicing urban designer. I have not included the two mentioned above because I believe these are a foundation and should already be included in your collection.
While I have provided a simple list for the best five urban design books, also included are arguments as to why I think these should be part of anyone’s collection and why they actually matter.
Best Five Books on Urban Design:
- The City Shaped: Urban Patterns and Meanings Through History, and The City Assembled: Elements of Urban Form through History, by Spiro Kostof.
- Town Spaces: Contemporary Interpretations in Traditional Urbanism, by Rob Krier
- Urban Design: The American Experience, by Jon Lang
- Urban Design Compendium – Volume 1, by English Partnerships
- Short History of Progress, by Ronald Wright
The ones that almost made it:
- The Next American Metropolis: Ecology, Community, and the American Dream, by Peter Calthorpe
- Good City Form, by Kevin Lynch
- Home from nowhere, by James Howard Kunstler
Ok, now that you have seen the list you maybe saying but there are better ones – sure there are, but the purpose of this list to arm the up-an-coming urban designer with a base source to build upon.
Yes, there is a lack of environmental consideration in this, but I would hope any urban designer would already have sufficient skills in this area or would spend time researching the best solution locally. Sustainability, is another foundation of this profession and this list is to hone the urban design skills in support of sustainable development.
The City Shaped and The City Assembled, Ok technically two books, but I would recommend these should be read as a combined set. Spiro Kostof’s unique understanding of historical and cultural forces that have made the cities of yesterday and today is an excellent beginning to understand the forces of architecture, culture and politics in doing urban design. The lessons he teaches through his writing helps you better read and understand the urban process.
Anything from the Krier brothers are personal favourites. What makes their books stand out is the design investigation through drawings, an art every urban designer should aspire to. However this recent publication by Rob Krier extends their European sensibility for its urban form and challenges us to create places without disconnecting from its context – that is why it is a must have.
Perhaps the first book to read when starting out in Urban Design should be Jon Lang’s Urban Design: The American Experience. It won’t specifically give you design insights such as shown by Rob and Leon Krier, but it will provide you with a far deeper understanding of how you as an urban designer fit into this field. His argument regarding Rationalism and Empiricism design philosophies is the perfect starting point.
This next book Urban Design Compendium – Volume 1, or should I say manual maybe the most contentious in that it is purely aimed at fulfilling a government backed program. However, this manual should not be so easily discarded, because it is exceptionally crafted to illustrate the many issues faced by an urban designer and the ways to develop solutions – this is one for anyone starting in urban design.
The final book is somewhat a rogue in this list, but a very good lesson for grounding us into understanding the impacts of the things that we do as managers and designers of cities. What I like about Ronald Wright’s book, Short History of Progress is that he was able to do in 120 pages what Jared Diamond took 500+ pages in his megapiece Collaspe – that we as humans have a very bad habit of being unsustainable and if we don’t understand this, the impacts are potentially damaging not only to the environment but especially to us!
Ok, I have had my turn to nominate the best – now it is your turn! Tell me your best, do you agree with the list I have provided or is there a better must have to be added.
2 comments:
Totally agree on "The City Shaped". It was the first book I read in Grad school!
I can also add "What Time is This Place?" by Kevin Lynch
There is some issue about placing Jacobs and Lynch as foundation books and not on the list - However, I stand by this and still wish to keep it as it. The other issue is Wright's book - not being a true urban design book. I agree, but I do like the story told that while we may focus too much on design it is the sustainable fundamentals that are important - and if it is designed well then it should be able to adapt to adverse conditions - shouldn't it?
However, here are a couple of other books reccommneded so far...
1) Ed Bacon's - Design of cities,
2) Leon Krier - Architecture of Community
3) Richard Rogers - Cities for small countries
4) LSE - The Endless City,
Ok - lets keep them coming so we can make the best 10 books.
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