City: Rediscovering the Center

by William H. Whyte

Book Overview

Uses observations of pedestrians to describe and analyze the city, and assesses the influence of architecture and urban planning.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385262094
• ISBN13: 9780385262095
• Release Date: January 1990
• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Length: 386 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 7.1" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

Classic Sociological Work Using Participant Observation and Photography to Study Urban Life

Form Introduction: "A good part of this book is concerned with the practical, and in particular, the design and management of urban spaces. But my main interest has been in matters much less practical - or, as I would prefer to term it, fundamental research. Whatever may be the significance, what is most fascinating about the life of the street is the interchanges between people that take place in it. A word about methodology. Direct observation was the core of our work. We did do interviewing, and occasionally we did experiments. But mostly we watched people. We tried to do it unobtrusively and only rarely did we affect what we were studying. We used photography a lot: 35 mm for stills, Super 8 for time-lapse, and 16mm for documentary work. " Chapter Contents: * The Social Life of the Street * Street People * The Skilled Pedestrian * The Physical Street * The Sensory Street * The Design of Spaces * Water, Wind, Trees, and Light * The Management of Spaces * The Undesirables * Carrying Capacity * Steps and Entrances * Concourses and Skyways * Megastructures * Blank Walls * The Rise and Fall of Incentive Zoning * Sun and Shadow * Bounce Light * Sun Easements * The Corporate Exodus * The Semi-Cities * How to Dullify Downtown * Tightening Up * The Case for Gentrification * Return to the Agora

Excellent

I'd give it five stars as an urban planning book, but only four stars in comparison to Whyte's landmark The Organization Man, a truly great, but nearly forgotten book of the fifties. The analysis of corporations moving from Manhattan to the suburbs, wherein Whyte plots distance from the CEOs home to the new headquarters is priceless.

Essential reading for any urban planner.

This book is terrific because William Whyte doesn't relie on any theory. Instead, he logged countless hours watching street corners, public parks and plazas to see how people actually use them, and draws conclusions on how to make them better, safer, and useable. His ideas of planning public areas were first used to a great extent in redeveloping Bryant Park in NYC. Formally a haven for drug users, the city used his findings from this book and turned it into one of the city's most livable and exciting public areas. If only we could design all our streets and plazas with such good common sense!