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 9
... whole villages that Ruskin had known and loved . As can be seen from the following passage , to a man of his sensitive nature it was too much to bear , Every day puts new machinery at your disposal , and increases , with your capital ...
... whole villages that Ruskin had known and loved . As can be seen from the following passage , to a man of his sensitive nature it was too much to bear , Every day puts new machinery at your disposal , and increases , with your capital ...
Page 12
... whole concept of the specialization of labor when he wrote : The trouble with labor today is that men are divided into mere segments of men - broken into small fragments and crumbs of life ; so that all the little pieces of intelligence ...
... whole concept of the specialization of labor when he wrote : The trouble with labor today is that men are divided into mere segments of men - broken into small fragments and crumbs of life ; so that all the little pieces of intelligence ...
Page 34
... whole street , if the whole city , join in the solemn harmony of sculpture . Your separate possessions of pictures and prints are to you as if you sang pieces of music with your single voices in your own houses . But your architecture ...
... whole street , if the whole city , join in the solemn harmony of sculpture . Your separate possessions of pictures and prints are to you as if you sang pieces of music with your single voices in your own houses . But your architecture ...
Contents
The Development Of A Visionary | 3 |
Ruskins Urban Vision | 19 |
Ruskins Efforts At Practical Town Planning | 48 |
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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