The
first in a series of books produced by the School of Architecture, Building
Cities: Towards a Civil Society and Sustainable Environment, edited
by Norman Crowe, Richard Economakis and Michael Lykoudis, is about the
reconstruction of urban life and the physical setting that facilitates
that life. Building Cities examines the social and environmental problems
of our time and offers a renewed, holistic way of thinking about human
interaction and its relationship to the built environment. It outlines
how principles of traditional urbanism support and sustain human cultures
in cities, towns and villages, in a democratic and environmentally conscious
manner. Building Cities brings together the issues of how we build and
live together from architectural, urbanistic, political, technical and
philosophical perspectives and outlines the aims of teaching at a modern
university.
Building Cities is divided into three parts. The first contains essays that define the philosophical framework. An interdisciplinary group of leading academics and practitioners explore not only the issue of how we build and live together, but also the relationship and interdependence of those issues. The second part is a catalogue of architectural and urban design projects - built, proposed and hypothetical - that reflect the arguments put forth in the essays. A brief commentary examines the concerns particular to the projects, which range from city plans to individual buildings and technical details from around the world. Examples from Europe, Asia and the Americas emphasize the scope of this global project. Part three outlines the task at hand in an epilogue that takes into account the immense size and scale of the reconstruction project and presents it in a focused manner.
To order Building Cities: Towards a Civil Society and Sustainable Environment visit the Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore online.
