Edward Glaeser The Triumph Of The City Summary

Structuralist approaches require in-depth observation and analysis. The theorists concentrate on collective unity rather than individual activity in the light of neutrality and scientific observation. Hence, there is a neo-Marxist perspective when defining the space. According to Harvey, cities that have become part of the capital accumulation process constantly renew themselves as industrial products for urban production, consumption, and change. The way to ensure the economic stability is to direct the capital into the built environment and solve the problem of excessive accumulation (Harvey, 2003).

Capitalism and the urban environment Capitalism plays a direct role in shaping the urban environment and the city. The geography of the city is not formed by natural forces. But rather, it is the result of the power of capitalism, through creating markets and controlling the workforce. Capitalist corporations have a consistent need for new markets and more advantageous locations. They are always on the lookout for lower labor costs, weaker unionization and tax concessions.

During the nineteenth century and into the beginning of the twentieth (also known as the Gilded Age), American cities began to blossom into diverse settings that developed new lifestyles, innovations (and inventions) and much more. Railroads and mass transits (commuting) made transportation of people and goods into the city more efficient, especially for people in the West and the South. American cities also began developing great pieces of architecture such as skyscrapers and dumbbell tenements that were work places and homes for many natives and immigrants. Additionally, the arrival of immigrants of into the land of the free provided for cheap labor for employers, contributed immensely to the cities’ population and allowed for the development of new culture in the

Although Webber and Haar share their support for a holistic approach to city’s problems and opportunities, this vision positions planners as a societal leader. As the author expresses, “The city planner’s realistic idealism, his orientation to the whole city, and his focus upon future conditions have placed him in a position of intellectual leadership” . Moreover, his technical competence would prepare them to hold responsibility not only on the physical environment, but also as an agent of human welfare. Nevertheless, criticisms quickly appeared questioning the reliability of an independent and egalitarian leadership considering it could be limited by its context’s power structures or influenced by his own system of values. Regardless of this refutation, I consider Webber’s approach is equally valuable as it provides a vision that answers to the discipline’s evolution.

Due to the advances in transportation and communication, the world is becoming more and more integrated. From business to culture, ideas and world views are being meshed together from globalization. So why should cities not adapt too? Why should they have a historic identity? The answer according to Rem Koolhaas is that a city shouldn’t have an identity it should be a “Generic City.” “Identity is for sharing the past and the past is getting less and less important.” What Koolhaas is trying to say here is that cities are too focused on their past and driving tourism up that they are doing a disservice to the city and to its citizens.

These revolutionary concepts included the formation of banking institutions to provide financial security (Goldthwaite, The Economy 206), and to provide a means of currency exchange (Goldthwaite, Local Banking 6). The usage of banking during the Renaissance had significant benefits for the Italian city state of Florence and positively impacted Europe’s merchants, as well as northern Italy’s wealthy noble classes. In Florence, banks were able to favorably affect the city state as a whole. Through the process of providing short term credit to business clients, merchants were able to help businesses in Florence flourish (Goldthwaite, The Economy 205). The establishment of successful businesses is essential to the growth and development of societies, such as Florence.

From the late 19th to early 20th centuries, American urbanization led to job opportunity in new bustling cities, technological advancements in transportaion, sanitation, and engineering, which led to an improved standard of living. All these benefits far outwayed the disadvantages of poor living conditions and racial and religious descrimination because the advancements that took place in this time period still effect American life

A key idea addressed is Scott Campbell’s ‘planner’s triangle” which aims to balance the divergent priorities of planning – social justice, environmental protection and economic growth - to attain sustainable development. Mumford’s new cities were well intentioned and strived to achieve a balance of this tri-axial relationship. As previously mentioned, Ebenezer Howard’s ‘Garden City’ is quite a prominent idea also promoted in the final segment. “Much of The City's power derives from the fundamental goal behind the new planning ideas not merely to provide the good life in new towns, but to reorder existing urban forms out of the congested central cities into a regional framework of small urban nodes, each tied together by new forms of transportation and communication.” (Howard, 1977) Another idea touched on in the final segment is the advancement of technologies to aid with sustainable development and “making science work for

1. The urbanization is a crucial process for the development of any society as it allows to make an emphasis on the development of the cities, where a significant amount of financial resources concentrate. The fact that many people moved from the rural areas to the cities in the middle of the 20th century, caused an immense growth of an industry, trade, and business across the country. There are both positive and negative outcomes of the urbanization; however, these outcomes are most commonly referred to as the push-pull factors. Both push and pull factors can be beneficial for particular groups of people while being disadvantaging to the other groups.

Thesis Speck simply has one goal in Walkable City, to demonstrate that walkability is the key nutrient to make cities blossom and that this theory could vastly improve the autocentric cities of America. When it comes to walkability, the first step is making walking the favored mode of