Variations on a theme park :
Variations on a theme park : the new American city and the end of public space /
Michael Sorkin, editor.
- 1st ed.
- New York : Hill and Wang, 1992.
- xv, 252 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [233]-249).
"America's cities are being rapidly transformed by a sinister and homogenous design. A new kind of urbanism-manipulative, dispersed, and hostile to traditional public space-is emerging both at the heart and at the edge of town in megamalls, corporate enclaves, gentrified zones, and pseudo-historic marketplaces. If anything can be described as a paradigm for these places, it's the theme park, an apparently benign environment in which all is structured to achieve maximum control and in which the idea of authentic interaction among citizens has been thoroughly purged. In this bold collection, eight of our leading urbanists and architectural critics explore the emblematic sites of this new cityscape-from Silicon Valley to Epcot Center, South Street Seaport to downtown Los Angeles-and reveal their disturbing implications for American public life."--
0809096072 0374523142 (pbk.)
Cities and towns--United States
City planning--United States
City and town life--United States
Public spaces--United States
307.760973
Includes bibliographical references (p. [233]-249).
"America's cities are being rapidly transformed by a sinister and homogenous design. A new kind of urbanism-manipulative, dispersed, and hostile to traditional public space-is emerging both at the heart and at the edge of town in megamalls, corporate enclaves, gentrified zones, and pseudo-historic marketplaces. If anything can be described as a paradigm for these places, it's the theme park, an apparently benign environment in which all is structured to achieve maximum control and in which the idea of authentic interaction among citizens has been thoroughly purged. In this bold collection, eight of our leading urbanists and architectural critics explore the emblematic sites of this new cityscape-from Silicon Valley to Epcot Center, South Street Seaport to downtown Los Angeles-and reveal their disturbing implications for American public life."--
0809096072 0374523142 (pbk.)
Cities and towns--United States
City planning--United States
City and town life--United States
Public spaces--United States
307.760973