cover image Direction of Cities

Direction of Cities

John Guinther. Viking Books, $34.95 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-670-84198-1

One of the more interesting things about this book, as city designer and architect Bacon, author of the classic Design of Cities (1967), comments in his foreword, is that Guinther is a political writer, not a city planner. Here he sets out to describe Bacon's philosophy in the context of U.S. cities. Some readers may find that focus a bit narrow, but Guinther makes many arresting observations. He surveys the development of American cities from earliest days to the present, with frequent references to New York City and Philadelphia. Ever mindful of what has worked for or against making cities livable, attractive places, he takes to task modernist icons such as Le Corbusier and Gropius: ""They removed the art from architecture and made of it a technology."" He excoriates New York's Robert Moses and his Cross-Bronx Expressway: ""Few figures in the history of cities have been more influential progenitors of chaos."" He largely writes off urban renewal, quoting urbanologist Charles Abrams: ""Urban renewal is Negro removal."" He cites numerous instances of such ""renewal,"" charging that it filled developers' pockets while destroying otherwise viable black communities, with little restraint imposed by city hall. Those concerned about the fate of our cities will find this a challenging and engrossing read. Photos. (Nov.)