The Seduction of Place
Subtitle: The City in the Twenty-first Century
Publisher: Pantheon; Pantheon Books
Published: September 19, 2000
Language: eng
Number of pages: 320
ISBN-13: 9780375400483
First sentence: TWO HUGE, SUCCESSIVE WAVES of dispossessed rural populations rose over the cities of the world, flooding the urban fabric and swelling it to breaking point.
Description: "To understand why people love or hate their cities and why cities succeed or fail their inhabitants, Joseph Rykwert examines a broad spectrum of urban centers.

Among them are Mexico City, the world's largest metropolis, sprawled around its old center; Berlin, newly reunited and furiously rebuilding; New Delhi and Islamabad, new capitals that exist alongside older towns; grandly planned cities like Chandigarh, Canberra, and Brasilia; and more modest new towns like Columbia, Maryland, and Celebration, Florida, built in an attempt to correct the problems endemic to big cities.".

"Rykwert looks at image, style, and ornament; at public space and buildings; at infrastructure and street layout; at the visual qualities of contrast, strife, and energy that contribute to a city's appeal. Discussing both successes and failures, he suggests ways in which we can retain - or return to - the sense of place and individuation that determines the nourishing character and soul of the urban landscape."--BOOK JACKET.