Designing Utopia: John Ruskin's Urban Vision for Britain and AmericaAlthough his name is not one that springs to mind when the public thinks of influential urban planners and designers, John ruskin was undoubtedly a most important influence. Art critic, social reformer, giant of English literature, his prodigious output of books, pamphlets and lectures, as well as his efforts at practical reform, established his tremendous reputation in Britain and America. More than providing a vision statement, he challenged artists, architects and town planners to collaborate on developing prototypes of his vision. To a remarkable extent they succeeded in doing so and thereby created a legacy of good community design that this book highlights. Designing Utopia presents a broad overview of John Ruskin's life: the development of his views on architecture and urban design, as well as his views on social justice; how his vision was developed in his writings; his efforts at practical application of that vision, in particular his efforts to build a guild based society. Finally the book analyses how Ruskin's urban vision influenced the work of a long line of progressive architects and planners and the buildings and communities they designed modern urban designers such as Lewis Mumford, Patrick Geddes, Ebenezer Howard. The work of these figures are then related to current practitioners of the New Urbanism such as Duaney and Plater-Zyberk. |
From inside the book
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Page 7
... architecture certainly lacked technical prowess ; it was often rude and inelegant . However , for Ruskin this was precisely its strength . " No architecture can be truly noble which is not imperfect " Ruskin wrote in The Stones of ...
... architecture certainly lacked technical prowess ; it was often rude and inelegant . However , for Ruskin this was precisely its strength . " No architecture can be truly noble which is not imperfect " Ruskin wrote in The Stones of ...
Page 106
... architecture to live again she must cover the whole field of building as she once did ; we must get rid of the distinction between architectural and non - architectural building . Architecture is simply the way of building well and ...
... architecture to live again she must cover the whole field of building as she once did ; we must get rid of the distinction between architectural and non - architectural building . Architecture is simply the way of building well and ...
Page 160
... architectural decoration against which modern architecture reacted . They saw his espousal of English Free Architecture as a romantic throwback , reliant on a sentimental pseudo medievalistic design aesthetic . So strong were these ...
... architectural decoration against which modern architecture reacted . They saw his espousal of English Free Architecture as a romantic throwback , reliant on a sentimental pseudo medievalistic design aesthetic . So strong were these ...
Contents
The Development Of A Visionary | 19 |
Ruskins Efforts At Practical Town Planning | 48 |
William Morris And The Town Planning Implications Of | 73 |
Copyright | |
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Designing Utopia: John Ruskin's Urban Vision for Britain and America Michael H. Lang No preview available - 1999 |
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