Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City
by Richard Sennett
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Description
A reflection on the past and present of city life, and a bold proposal for its future. "Constantly stimulating ideas from a veteran of urban thinking."- Jonathan Meades, The Guardian. In this sweeping work, the preeminent sociologist Richard Sennett traces the anguished relation between how cities are built and how people live in them, from ancient Athens to twenty-first-century Shanghai. He shows how Paris, Barcelona, and New York City assumed their modern forms; rethinks the reputations of show more Jane Jacobs, Lewis Mumford, and others; and takes us on a tour of emblematic contemporary locations, from the backstreets of Medellín, Colombia, to Google headquarters in Manhattan. Through it all, Sennett laments that the "closed city"- segregated, regimented, and controlled - has spread from the Global North to the exploding urban centers of the Global South. He argues instead for a flexible and dynamic "open city," one that provides a better quality of life, that can adapt to climate change and challenge economic stagnation and racial separation. With arguments that speak directly to our moment - a time when more humans live in urban spaces than ever before - Sennett forms a bold and original vision for the future of cities. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
In Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City, Richard Sennett explains what it takes to build a good life through a good environment for individuals and society as a whole, worldwide.
Make no mistake, this is an academic text book and written for students in the same field, so although I personally found it interesting, it was not what I expected and it was quite wordy. However, if this is to be your field of expertise then that's not going to deter you. In fact this may actually be on your reading list.
Sennett covers subjects such as the ethics of co-creation in cities and how the geography, along with economics, has a sociological effect on city-dwelling on a global level.
Well researched, and for the layman like me it's full of show more interesting thought provoking ideas at how we can build and live in our cities of the future.
I'll admit, I don't necessarily agree with everything Sennett says, but nevertheless he does what I am sure he set out to do, which was to get me thinking. So for any academics out there reading this, you should get heaps of challenging ideas regarding urban development from what is essentially a student text book. show less
Make no mistake, this is an academic text book and written for students in the same field, so although I personally found it interesting, it was not what I expected and it was quite wordy. However, if this is to be your field of expertise then that's not going to deter you. In fact this may actually be on your reading list.
Sennett covers subjects such as the ethics of co-creation in cities and how the geography, along with economics, has a sociological effect on city-dwelling on a global level.
Well researched, and for the layman like me it's full of show more interesting thought provoking ideas at how we can build and live in our cities of the future.
I'll admit, I don't necessarily agree with everything Sennett says, but nevertheless he does what I am sure he set out to do, which was to get me thinking. So for any academics out there reading this, you should get heaps of challenging ideas regarding urban development from what is essentially a student text book. show less
shelved at: (Z) : Reference
(C03 Raum- & Stadttheorien
Aug 14, 2020German
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41 works; 1 member
Author Information
47+ Works 4,962 Members
Richard Sennett founded and served as first director of the New York Institute of the Humanities and is now a professor of sociology at both New York University and the London School of Economies.
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Distinctions
The Guardian Book of the Day (2018-02-19)
Classifications
- Genres
- Sociology, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, Art & Design
- DDC/MDS
- 307.76 — Social sciences Social sciences, sociology & anthropology Communities Specific kinds of communities Urban communities
- LCC
- HT166 .S39175 — Social sciences Communities. Classes. Races Communities. Classes. Races Urban groups. The city. Urban sociology City planning
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 205
- Popularity
- 158,669
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.94)
- Languages
- 8 — Catalan, Chinese, English, German, Italian, Portuguese (Portugal), Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 18
- ASINs
- 4
