About this title: Named by Newsweek magazine to its list of "Fifty Books for Our Time." For sixteen years William Whyte walked the streets of New York and other major cities. With a group of young observers, camera and notebook in hand, he conducted pioneering studies of street life, pedestrian behavior, and city dynamics. City: Rediscovering the Center is the result of that research, a humane, often amusing view of what is staggeringly obvious about the urban environment but seemingly invisible to those responsible for planning it. Whyte uses time-lapse photography to chart the anatomy of metropolitan ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Univ of Pennsylvania Pr
Date published: 2009-09-09
ISBN-13:9780812220742ISBN:0812220749
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780812220742. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Anchor Books, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date published: 1990
ISBN-13:9780385262095ISBN:0385262094
Description: Fair. Fair Fair Fair Fair Fair Fair Fair in Unknown jacket Fair Ex Library Wear to cover, text is clean, retired library book, may contain minor stickers or stamps, read more
Description: Acceptable. Acceptable. front/back cover stained with creases, some highlighting and underlining in book but does not obstruct text The book is intact and readable. Please be advised that we rated this book as acceptable due to the likelihood of imperfections as highlighting, underlining, folds, creases, etc. We do provide a no hassle guarantee. read more
Binding: S Softcover
Publisher: Anchor Books, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date published: 1990
ISBN-13:9780385262095ISBN:0385262094
Description: Very Good. 4to-over 9¾"-12" tall 386 pgs., SPINE UNCREASED, TEXT UNMARKED, PAGES AGE TONED AT MARGINS, COVERS BROWNING AND BRITTLE AT EDGES, MISSING ONE CORNER TIP ON REAR COVER. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Date published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780812220742ISBN:0812220749
Description: New. Please note that deliveries to addresses in the UK and Europe will be in 4-14 business days. Other countries should refer to Alibris standard times. ISBN10: 0812220749. read more
Description: Reader copy. Pages are tanned with small amount of moisture waviness on top outermost corner of first few pages. Small tear on cover. Contents neat, clean, unmarked, no folds or tears. Uncreased spine. Fast shipping. read more
"Most of the books I read are either science fiction or in the physical sciences. And I'm involved in "hard science fiction" (SF that tries to be consistent with known science). However, my college degree was in the social sciences and social issues concern me.
Many people interested in hard SF tend to assume the social sciences can't be "hard sciences". The social sciences are subject to such chaos factors that it's difficult to be precise as in physics - but the same is true of physical sciences such as meteorology, ecology and climatology.
The book City is mainly about urban planning, but from the perspective of those who wanted to optimize a city's physical structures to facilitate human social needs. In that sense, at least part of City is about social behavior. The urban planners involved in these projects were true to science. They had hypotheses on what social behaviors there were and what city planning might facilitate that, but they would always check to see what was really happening in the real world.
In one example that has stuck in my mind, they already thought they knew what would be helpful. Then they put up video cameras outside to see what people really did. People did not do as they expected. The urban planners accepted the evidence and changed their concepts.
This isn't the social sciences on a grand, society-wide scale being presented as a hard science, but it does at least give an idea of a hard science approach in matters involving the social sciences. From such beginnings perhaps one day a hard social sciences can be built."
"Read this like a follow-up to A Pattern Language: it has research-based info on what worked in city centers in the 1980s. The strange part is that the team videotaped public corners and plazas to determine pedestrian behavior."
"I adored this book... a wonderful exploration of what makes public space successful. And thanks to Whyte, every time I see a building with multiple doors... one of which is open... I think about his observation that an open door "is enormously attracting."
He goes on to write: "Given a choice, people will head for the door that is already open, or that is about to be opened by somebody else. Some people are natural door openers. But most are not; often they will queue up three and four deep behind an open door rather than strike out on their own."
You know what? He's totally right. People WILL go through an open door..."
"I found the author's obsessive studies of pedestrian habits and habitats amusing and interesting. Also interesting was the insider view of NYC (and other city) planning commissions and their efforts (and oft-times failures) to create vibrant spaces in cities."
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