The Geography of Nowhere, by James Howard Kunstler, was revelatory to me in that it articulated in a way I never could the unease I had with e.g. suburban subdivisions. But it was also a sort of heterodox awakening for me, in that it (and Kunstler's later writings) explained why the canonical lefty-protest themes of "save the <green spac…
The Geography of Nowhere, by James Howard Kunstler, was revelatory to me in that it articulated in a way I never could the unease I had with e.g. suburban subdivisions. But it was also a sort of heterodox awakening for me, in that it (and Kunstler's later writings) explained why the canonical lefty-protest themes of "save the <green space>", "stop the <building>", parks=good, new buildings=bad were often counterproductive if one had broader environmental goals in mind.
From Kunstler I went to Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Which is fantastic.
But the other book I was led to from Kunstler is Christopher Alexander's, A Pattern Language, which is a monumental approach to the design of the built environment. It covers scales from the organization of towns and cities in the landscape down to the arrangement of furniture in a room, and everything in between. It is described as 253 Design Patterns, each deeply researched, informed by psychology, and motivated to produce a good life for all.
The Geography of Nowhere, by James Howard Kunstler, was revelatory to me in that it articulated in a way I never could the unease I had with e.g. suburban subdivisions. But it was also a sort of heterodox awakening for me, in that it (and Kunstler's later writings) explained why the canonical lefty-protest themes of "save the <green space>", "stop the <building>", parks=good, new buildings=bad were often counterproductive if one had broader environmental goals in mind.
From Kunstler I went to Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Which is fantastic.
But the other book I was led to from Kunstler is Christopher Alexander's, A Pattern Language, which is a monumental approach to the design of the built environment. It covers scales from the organization of towns and cities in the landscape down to the arrangement of furniture in a room, and everything in between. It is described as 253 Design Patterns, each deeply researched, informed by psychology, and motivated to produce a good life for all.