I have owned this book for a long time. I realize that I still think about this book and its look at the urban scene in the United States in the late 1950's. Cities were seen as becoming more impersonal and oerwhelmed by overgrowth that affeced city and suburbs alike. There are two chapters by William Whyte who helped Philadelphia leap better into the postwar era, even if belatedly. Jane Jacobs wrote the last chapter, focusing not so much on urban village life, but instead creating more personal spaces in dowtown areas. The theme I most concentrated on was the effext of the car on city travel. Public transit was already not doing well in most cities and it is interesting to relook at this data 60 years later. An amazing realization is that crime was not deemed as an important problem inthe 1950's. Only two small paragraphs deal with policing. Citie are now coming full circle wih the lower crime rates, the return to dowtown for residential living, and the many streetcar and light rail project. ( )

A collection of six essays by William Whyte, Jr., Francis Belo, Seymour Freedgood, Daniel Seligman, and Jane Jacobs. Various aspects of and problems caused by urban growth are discussed. ( )