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The future for the city centre
HABITAT Pcrgamon
INTL. Vol. 8. No. 34, pp. 235-242. Press Ltd. Printed in Great Britain.
1984
Book Reviews STANLEY
D. BRUNN
and JACK F. WILLIAMS,
Cities of The World: World
Regional Urban Development. Harper
& Row Ltd, London,
1983, 506 pp.
P.L. DAVIES and A.G. CHAMPION, (Editors), The Future for the City Centre. Academic Press (London) Ltd, London, 1983, 294 pp. ALISON RAVETZ, Remaking Croom Helm Ltd, Beckenham,
Cities. 1982, 375 pp.
There are no experts, yet there are only experts. This insight developed on reading the three publications under review. Their common theme is the city - that invigorating or repressive entity where the majority of the world’s population pass their time. The problem with cities is that they have problems, most of which require complex solutions. The three books state these problems to varying degrees but offer no universal panacea for the ills of the urban lot. The value of the volumes is different in each case: the first is as basic reference; the second as a limited statement on the current state of the urban scene; and the third as a historical narrative coupled with an incisive commentary on planning failure and future directions. On the mistaken assumption that good wine is best kept until last Remaking Cities will be the culmination of the review with Cities of The World opening the monologue. This latter publication is good for the library shelf, being an impressively compiled summary of urban development on this planet. Under the guidance of the two editors it brings together the work of twelve authors - all geographers and experts in different urban regions and assembles their work in a clear correlated way. The text is interspersed with tables and illustrations which help the reader’s understanding. The scope of this work is ambitious and at times appears to overstep its own frame of reference. The preface states that the editors wish this book to have broad appeal and to prod specialists and laymen into considering urban problems in a more serious way. At the level of facts and figures there is no doubt that it succeeds but when opinions are passed they are made with a geographer’s axe to grind. This often results in a difficulty for the reader to see the wood of the city for the trees of the text and occasionally produces questionable or embarrassing opinions. For example, relating to Western Europe, there appears to be a resistance to the understanding of the often successful process of urban renewal and a slightly dismissive attitude that the inherent complexities of it only achieve “slow or insignificant progress”. In the section on Subsaharan Africa, Lagos (Nigeria) is referred to as having “been called the biggest disaster area that ever passed for a city”. A little later the author describes Lagos as a “bonafide African city”. An illustrated and, in my opinion, architecturally reprehensible housing project in Singapore is described as “one of the best in the world” in a section of text which would pass muster as a publicity handout for that city. In the absence of detailed analysis supporting such statements, their inclusion detracts from the soundness of the text in this otherwise valuable reference volume. The Future of the City Centre is compiled from conference papers delivered to the Institute of British Geographers at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in July 1981. The contributors have varying backgrounds in environmental and transport planning, estates management, geography, architecture, and social studies. As an up-to-date insight into the 235
INTL. Vol. 8. No. 34, pp. 235-242. Press Ltd. Printed in Great Britain.
1984
Book Reviews STANLEY
D. BRUNN
and JACK F. WILLIAMS,
Cities of The World: World
Regional Urban Development. Harper
& Row Ltd, London,
1983, 506 pp.
P.L. DAVIES and A.G. CHAMPION, (Editors), The Future for the City Centre. Academic Press (London) Ltd, London, 1983, 294 pp. ALISON RAVETZ, Remaking Croom Helm Ltd, Beckenham,
Cities. 1982, 375 pp.
There are no experts, yet there are only experts. This insight developed on reading the three publications under review. Their common theme is the city - that invigorating or repressive entity where the majority of the world’s population pass their time. The problem with cities is that they have problems, most of which require complex solutions. The three books state these problems to varying degrees but offer no universal panacea for the ills of the urban lot. The value of the volumes is different in each case: the first is as basic reference; the second as a limited statement on the current state of the urban scene; and the third as a historical narrative coupled with an incisive commentary on planning failure and future directions. On the mistaken assumption that good wine is best kept until last Remaking Cities will be the culmination of the review with Cities of The World opening the monologue. This latter publication is good for the library shelf, being an impressively compiled summary of urban development on this planet. Under the guidance of the two editors it brings together the work of twelve authors - all geographers and experts in different urban regions and assembles their work in a clear correlated way. The text is interspersed with tables and illustrations which help the reader’s understanding. The scope of this work is ambitious and at times appears to overstep its own frame of reference. The preface states that the editors wish this book to have broad appeal and to prod specialists and laymen into considering urban problems in a more serious way. At the level of facts and figures there is no doubt that it succeeds but when opinions are passed they are made with a geographer’s axe to grind. This often results in a difficulty for the reader to see the wood of the city for the trees of the text and occasionally produces questionable or embarrassing opinions. For example, relating to Western Europe, there appears to be a resistance to the understanding of the often successful process of urban renewal and a slightly dismissive attitude that the inherent complexities of it only achieve “slow or insignificant progress”. In the section on Subsaharan Africa, Lagos (Nigeria) is referred to as having “been called the biggest disaster area that ever passed for a city”. A little later the author describes Lagos as a “bonafide African city”. An illustrated and, in my opinion, architecturally reprehensible housing project in Singapore is described as “one of the best in the world” in a section of text which would pass muster as a publicity handout for that city. In the absence of detailed analysis supporting such statements, their inclusion detracts from the soundness of the text in this otherwise valuable reference volume. The Future of the City Centre is compiled from conference papers delivered to the Institute of British Geographers at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in July 1981. The contributors have varying backgrounds in environmental and transport planning, estates management, geography, architecture, and social studies. As an up-to-date insight into the 235