Dispersed City of the Plains

by Stone, Harris; Stone, Joan; Carswell, J. William

• ISBN13: 9780853459927
• ISBN10: 0853459924
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-12-01
• Publisher: Monthly Review Pr

Summary

With São Paulo, Tokyo, New Delhi, Mexico City, and Teheran rapidly approaching densities that are environmentally and emotionally unfit for human habitation, the need for urban planning has never been more pressing. Dispersed City of the Plains inventively pumps fresh air into the debate about what constitutes city building at the end of the twentieth century. It is a book that not only questions authority but supplies an alternative vision.--James Stewart Polshek, FAIA, Polshek and PartnersStone argues that the formation of towns has been based largely on the play of economic forces, without sentiment or prior attachment to place. In envisioning humane and rational improvements, he suggests that older notions of settlement be left behind in order to come to terms with the unfolding realities of the dispersed city.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii	(2)
Joan Stone
Acknowledgments	ix	(2)
Introduction	xi
Barry Newton
Grain Elevator, Barbed Wire Fence, Windmill	1	(46)
Preface
Grain Elevator
Wire Fence
Windmill
House, Schoolhouse, House (continued)	47	(48)
Sod House
Schoolhouse
Balloon Frame Construction
House as Commodity
Hamlet, Township, County Seat	95	(42)
Preface
In the Beginning was the Grid
Hamlet
Township as Built Form
Township as Model
County Seat
The Outline of a Model for the Development of Built Forms of the Plains
Main Street	137
Down by the River
The Railroad Comes to Town
The Automobile Takes Command
Airport Shuttle