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 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 ...
Page 144
... whole simple and more direct than the English Garden City work with which we are familiar , and I am inclined to think that it is , in many respects , of a higher order of merit than much that was executed in the days of peace ... I saw ...
... whole simple and more direct than the English Garden City work with which we are familiar , and I am inclined to think that it is , in many respects , of a higher order of merit than much that was executed in the days of peace ... I saw ...
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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achieve Ackerman aesthetic American architects architecture artistic Arts and Crafts Ashbee associated beautiful British building built called Camden central Chipping Campden Clavigera co-housing cottages Crafts communities Crafts Movement craftsmen described design approach efforts England English environment established felt Garden City garden villages Gothic green Guild Socialism Hampstead Garden Suburb Hill human ideal industrial influence inspired John Ruskin Kelmscott Kentlands lecture Lethaby live London major medieval Modern Painters Mumford Museum nature neighbourhood neo-traditional Octavia Hill open space organic Oxford Philadelphia Philip Webb planning system Press Price principles produced projects Radburn Raymond Unwin Red House regional planning result romantic Rose Valley Roycroft Ruskin and Morris Ruskin's urban vision Ruskinian socialist society sprawl stone street style suburban successful Swenarton town planners town planning traditional urban design utopian vernacular vernacular architecture Webb's William Morris workers wrote York Yorkship Village