URBAN FORMS: THE DEATH AND LIFE OF THE URBAN BLOCK; TRANS. BY OLGA VITALE SAMUELS

This popular and influential work, translated here into English for the first time, argues that modern urbanism has upset the morphology of cities, abolished their streets and isolated their buildings. In tracing the stages of this transformation, this book presents the view that the urban tissue, the intermediate scale between the architecture of buildings and the diagrammatic layouts of town planning, is the essential framework for everyday life. Only by investigating the urban tissue will it be possible to understand the complex relationships between plot and built form, between streets and buildings and between these forms and design practices. The chosen trail of the first French edition - Paris, London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt - is one of continuously evolving modernity. It outlines a history, which, in one century (1860-1960), completely changed the aspect of our towns and cities and transformed our way of life. The shock has been such that we are still looking for answers, still attempting to find urban forms that can accommodate present day ways of life and at the same time maintain the qualities of the traditional town. This English edition brings the story forward to the present day and considers the impact of the New Urbanism in the United States, which, over the last decade, has sought to re-establish former relationships within the urban tissue. * Internationally influential and highly respected French urban design theory translated into English for the first time * Both students and lecturers, of architecture and urban design, will find the theories and case studies informative and thought provoking * Features new up to date chapter focusing on US and New Urbanism Urban Forms: The Death and Life of the Urban Block is concerned with the fundamental grammar of our cities which is the key to successful urban environments. This popular and influential work, translated here into English for the first time, argues that modern urbanism has upset the morphology of cities, abolished their streets and isolated their buildings. In tracing the stages of this transformation, this book presents the view that the urban tissue, the intermediate scale between the architecture of buildings and the diagrammatic layouts of town planning, is the essential framework for everyday life. Only by investigating the urban tissue will it be possible to understand the complex relationships between plot and built form, between streets and buildings and between these forms and design practices. The chosen trail of the first French edition - Paris, London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt -- is one of continuously evolving modernity. It outlines a history, which, in one century (1860-1960), completely changed the aspect of our towns and cities and transformed our way of life. The shock has been such that we are still looking for answers, still attempting to find urban forms that can accommodate present day ways of life and at the same time maintain the qualities of the traditional town. This English edition brings the story forward to the present day in Britain and the United States where it considers the impact of the New Urbanism which has sought to reestablish former relationships within the urban tissue. In a sense, this postscript closes the circle that the French book opened. This popular and influential work, translated here into English for the first time, argues that modern urbanism has upset the morphology of cities, abolished their streets and isolated their buildings. In tracing the stages of this transformation, this book presents the view that the urban tissue, the intermediate scale between the architecture of buildings and the diagrammatic layouts of town planning, is the essential framework for everyday life. Only by investigating the urban tissue will it be possible to understand the complex relationships between plot and built form, between streets and buildings and between these forms and design practices. The chosen trail of the first French edition - Paris, London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt - is one of continuously evolving modernity. It outlines a history, which, in one century (1860-1960), completely changed the aspect of our towns and cities and transformed our way of life. The shock has been such that we are still looking for answers, still attempting to find urban forms that can accommodate present day ways of life and at the same time maintain the qualities of the traditional town. This English edition brings the story forward to the present day and considers the impact of the New Urbanism in the United States, which, over the last decade, has sought to re-establish former relationships within the urban tissue. An extended discussion about the impact of Modernist notions of the good city on traditional urban form, meaning above all the urban block. The ordinary multi-plot urban block came under fire because of Modernism, although Panerai claims it was denatured earlier through the work of Haussmann. Panerai's work is invaluable so far as it draws attention to a key fact: the most important structure of the city is not the building, but the building-group, and in particular the traditional city method for grouping buildings, name the European city block. Because traditional city blocks are no longer the default method for assembling the city, architecture is less and less able to contribute positively to the historic city, and the continuity of our space in which stable cultures can unfold in time. "The chosen trail of the first French edition - Paris, London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt - is one of continuously evolving modernity. It outlines a history, which, in one century (1860-1960), completely changed the aspect of our towns and cities and transformed our way of life. The shock has been such that we are still looking for answers, still attempting to find urban forms than can accommodate present day ways of life and at the time maintain the qualities of the traditional town." "This English edition brings the story forward to the present day in Britain and the United States where it considers the impact of the New Urbanism which has sought to re-establish former relationships within the urban tissue. In a sense, this postscript closes the circle that the French book opened."--Jacket Philippe Panerai, Jean Castex, Jean-charles Depaule. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 187-196).