Kirjahaku

In this text, Ford offers an account of the relationship between urban architecture - especially vernacular architecture - and the spatial arrangement and development of cities in North America. From office towers in the central business district to commercial strips in the "edge city", Ford shows how changes in the built environment parallel changes in urban economies and human culture. Focusing on ordinary structures rather than famous landmarks, the book aims to provide a guide to understanding the changing character of any urban landscape. Ford describes how the idea - as well as the appearance - of the modern city has changed with the evolution of buildings such as skyscrapers, skid-row hotels, single family bungalows and ranches, large apartment buildings, public-housing towers, motels, mini-malls and festival market-places. Through illustrated case studies of specific building types in particular places, Ford explores the conflicting forces of decline, revitalization and preservation that constantly transform the urban scene.

Gates and fences, sidewalks and driveways, alleys and parking lots-these ordinary features have an important architectural impact, influencing how a building relates to the spaces around it. As geographer Larry R. Ford argues, architectural histories and guidebooks tell us surprisingly little about the character of American cities because they concentrate on buildings taken out of context, buildings divorced from space. In The Spaces between Buildings, Ford focuses on the neglected "nooks and crannies" between structures, supplementing his analysis with three photographic essays. Long before Ford knew anything about geography or architecture, he was a connoisseur of front porches, alleys, and loading docks. As a kid in Columbus, Ohio, he knew where to find coal chutes to play in, which rooftops and fire escapes were ideally suited for watching parades, and which stoops were perfect for waiting for a bus. To him the spaces between buildings seemed wonderfully integrated and connected. The Spaces between Buildings is the result of Ford's preoccupation with the relationship of buildings to one another and how their means of access and boundaries organize the areas around us. As Ford observes, a city with friendly, permeable facades and a great variety of street-level doors is more conducive to civic life than a city characterized by fortresslike structures with blank walls and invisible doors. Life on the street is defined and guided by the nature of the surrounding buildings. Similarly, a residential neighborhood with front porches, small lawns or gardens, and houses with lots of windows and architectural details presents a more walkable and gregarious setting than a neighborhood where public space is surrounded by walls, three-car garage doors, blank facades, and concrete driveways. Ford begins by looking at the growth of four urban places, each representing a historical era as much as a geographic location: the Islamic medina; the city shaped by the Spanish renaissance; the nineteenth-century North American city; and the twentieth-century American city. His first essay also discusses the evolution of the free-standing structure as a basic urban building type and the problems encountered in beautifying the often work-a-day back and side yards that have helped to create the image of the untidy American city. The second essay examines the urban trend toward viewing lawns, gardens, hedges, and trees as an essential adjunct to architecture. The final essay focuses on pedestrian and vehicular spaces. Here the author includes the landscape of the garage, sidewalks, streets, and alleys. In its exploration of how spaces become places, The Spaces between Buildings invites readers to see anew the spaces they encounter every day and often take for granted.

What makes a good downtown, and why? Are today's downtowns, with their waterfront parks, festival markets, sports arenas, and cultural centers, more vibrant and lively than the "central business districts" of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries? Was there ever a "golden age" of downtowns? In this book, noted urban scholar Larry Ford casts a critical and practiced eye on sixteen contemporary urban centers to offer an expert's view of the best-and worst-of downtown America. Ford begins with a brief history of U.S. urban development. He then explains his criteria for evaluating downtowns before proceeding with an on-the-street examination of the featured sixteen cities. Each is rated based on use of physical site, particularly for housing (unlike suburbs, Ford notes, most downtowns are located in challenging physical locales, such as harbors, rivers, hills, or peninsulas), street morphology, civic space, functional aspects (office space, retail stores, and convention centers), and the support districts in the fringe areas surrounding the downtown core.Ford concludes with a suggested model of downtown structure based upon the case studies and with a look at the possible effects of increasing globalization on the downtowns of the late twenty-first century. This book will appeal to those interested in urban studies, landscape studies, American studies, architecture, historic preservation and planning, and urban geography. Featured cities: Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Cleveland, Columbus, Denver, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Providence, San Antonio, San Diego, Seattle, and St. Louis

The San Diego of popular imagination is a lotus land of sun and surfers, a ruggedly beautiful region where Mexican barrios coexist with mountain villages and deserts sprawl as far as the eye can see. Functionally, if not officially, its reaches extend all the way to Tijuana, Mexico, giving it an unusual international distinction, as well as a heterogeneous population of nearly five million people. Covering more than 4,200 square miles, San Diego County encompasses a variety of ecologies, including the beach and coastal strip, lowlands and mesas, foothills, mountains, and desert terrain. In Metropolitan San Diego, acclaimed geographer Larry Ford looks at the city at both the metropolitan level and that of particular neighborhoods-from the shore to the mountains, from the border towns to Camp Pendleton to its old-fashioned central city-revealing a region as varied culturally and socioeconomically as it is geographically. Focusing on fifteen "epitome places" from Tijuana to La Jolla, Ford pays particular attention to the creation of distinctive lifestyle zones within San Diego's large and diverse metropolitan context. From the display of Native American culture ushered in by the advent of Indian casinos, to the colorful temple architecture that abounds in East and Southeast Asian commercial districts, to the funky surfer designs of beach communities, the interplay of ethnic icons, landscape, architecture, and political networks has helped numerous communities to develop their unique characters. San Diego's movement toward neotraditional urbanism coupled with an increasing reliance on mass transit mirrors a trend that is on the rise in cities everywhere, and Ford shows how this movement has the potential to revitalize transit nodes based on small-town place identity, while diminishing the once universal trend toward homogeneous strip malls. Through its focus on the culture and creation of the places that have long captured the imagination of visitors, Metropolitan San Diego offers a wide-ranging and thoughtful look at the major actors and events that have shaped each community-the armed forces and the federal spending for equipping them on one hand; tourism and the city's attraction of retirees on the other. Linking culture, environment, and civic notions, and connecting them to life as it is lived in the county's diverse neighborhoods, Ford offers an intimate look at the small communities people live in and the large identities they share. Touring the city's mythic past-from the role of romanticism in the evolution of San Diego in the days of "Ramona's Marriage Place" and the Spanish ranchos to the rise of surfer culture, aerospace innovations, and the dominance of the navy-he offers a nuanced sense of the region's intriguing history and points to how this history continues to inform current realities such as employment, education levels, immigration, and environmental sustainability. A thorough and intelligent portrait of one of America's most multifaceted cities, Metropolitan San Diego brings to vibrant life the many niches, both ecological and social, that continue to make this region a destination for visitors and a beloved home to residents.