Cities Back from the Edge: New Life for Downtown

Cities Back from the Edge: New Life for Downtown
by Roberta Brandes Gratz, Norman Mintz

List Price: ~~$32.00~~
Our Price: $17.73
You Save: $14.27 (45%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $11.00 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions

Compare Prices for Cities Back from the Edge: New Life for Downtown

Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Norman Mintz, Roberta Brandes Gratz
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2000-01-27
ISBN: 0471361240
Number of pages: 376
Publisher: Wiley

Book Reviews of Cities Back from the Edge: New Life for Downtown

Book Review: Big Highways Crippled Cities, Big Commercial Plans Can Thwart Rebirth
Summary: 5 Stars

Those are the twin themes permeating Cities: Back From The Edge, a take-no-prisoners diatribe against America's strategic misplacement and overapplication of asphalt and the "bigger is better" mentality of all too many commercial developers.

In this spirited, edgy work, Gratz and Mintz systematically explore how the Interstate System and its connecting routes helped weaken or destroy the commercial and residential viability of many U.S. downtowns, shifting the center of gravity in metropolitan areas and setting the stage for any number of revitalization plans founded on lack of imagination, the desire for a quick buck or graft. The authors describe some of these projects in detail and name real-life culprits while shining the spotlight on more far-sighted community activists, some of whom went on to develop micro solutions to their downtown dreams.

The authors remind us that, in downtown revitalization efforts, size does not really matter; that even the most fledgling business in a particular niche, operating alongside similar startups or in collaborative fashion, can successfully engage in mass customization, grow, and incrementally assist in the sustainable rebirth of a downtown, reinventing a unique critical mass that not only serves friend and neighbor but also draws tourism. "Cities" offers some wonderful quotes from these entrepreneurs as well as some pithy quotes from third parties ranging from H.L. Mencken to Winston Churchill to buttress their arguments.

A genuine bonus to this insightful work are the large number of crisp, black-and-white photographs of streetscapes, artist's studios and other manifestations of urban rebirth. Some have the decided look and feel of the first-rate photography to be seen in The New York Times before it went to color.

"Cities" remains on my bookshelf for reference and inspiration. I'm not done with it yet.

Write your own review

More Cities Back from the Edge: New Life for Downtown reviews:
1 2

Summary of Cities Back from the Edge: New Life for Downtown

"A love song for the city . . . [this] volume, attractively packaged and richly illustrated, is really a cookbook for downtown revitalization." --Wall Street Journal

In this pioneering book on successful urban recovery, two urban experts draw on their firsthand observations of downtown change across the country to identify a flexible, effective approach to urban rejuvenation. From transportation planning and sprawl containment to the threat of superstore retailers, they address a host of key issues facing our cities today.

Roberta Brandes Gratz (New York, NY), an award-winning journalist and urban critic, is author of the urban design classic The Living City. A former staff reporter for the New York Post, Gratz has written for the New York Times Magazine and other publications. Norman Mintz (New York, NY) has played a leading role in the field of downtown revitalization for more than twenty-five years. He is Design Director at the 34th Street Partnership in New York City and a consultant on downtown revitalization across the country.

Sociology Books

Book Subjects

Most talked about in The New Urbanism

Making Business Districts Work: Leadership And Management of Downtown, Main Street, Business District, And Community Development Organizations (Health and Social Policy)
by Marvin D Feit, David Feehan
Routledge; Published: 2006-07-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $89.05
Price in other shops: ~~$95.00~~

Downtown America: A History of the Place and the People Who Made It (Historical Studies of Urban America)
by Alison Isenberg
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 2005-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.79
Price in other shops: ~~$22.50~~

The Art Studio/ Loft Manual: For Ambitious Artists and Creators
by Eric Rudd
Cire Corporation; Published: 2001-11-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.95

Cities Back from the Edge: New Life for Downtown
by Roberta Brandes Gratz, Norman Mintz
Wiley; Published: 2000-01-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.73
Price in other shops: ~~$32.00~~

Sprawl Kills: How Blandburbs Steal Your Time, Health, and Money
by Joel S Hirschhorn
Sterling & Ross Publishers; Published: 2005-02-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.59
Price in other shops: ~~$25.95~~

Homes and Cities: Living for the Future
by Sally Morgan
Franklin Watts; Published: 1998-03; Library Binding; Book
Best price: $0.24
Price in other shops: ~~$21.00~~

Intown Living: A Different American Dream
by Ann Breen, Dick Rigby
Island Press; Published: 2005-02-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.00
Price in other shops: ~~$35.00~~

The Living City: How America's Cities Are Being Revitalized by Thinking Small in a Big Way
by Roberta Brandes Gratz
Wiley; Published: 1995-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.67
Price in other shops: ~~$29.95~~

Retire Downtown: The Lifestyle Destination for Active Retirees and Empty Nesters
by Kyle Ezell
Andrews McMeel Publishing; Published: 2006-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.71
Price in other shops: ~~$18.95~~

Loft Living: Culture and Capital in Urban Change
by Sharon Zukin
Rutgers University Press; Published: 1989-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.80
Price in other shops: ~~$23.95~~

Similar Books and other products

The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life
by Richard Florida
Basic Books; Published: 2003-12-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.54
Price in other shops: ~~$16.95~~

House by House, Block by Block: The Rebirth of America's Urban Neighborhoods
by Alexander von Hoffman
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2004-10-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.87
Price in other shops: ~~$19.95~~

The Wealth of Cities: Revitalizing the Centers of American Life
by John Norquist, John O. Norquist
Basic Books; Published: 1999-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops: ~~$18.95~~

Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream Image

Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream
by Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Jeff Speck
North Point Press; Published: 2001-04-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops: ~~$19.00~~

The Economy of Cities
by Jane Jacobs
Vintage; Published: 1970-02-12; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops: ~~$14.00~~

Downtown, Inc.: How America Rebuilds Cities
by Bernard J. Frieden, Lynne B. Sagalyn
The MIT Press; Published: 1991-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $21.60
Price in other shops: ~~$32.00~~

America's New Downtowns: Revitalization or Reinvention? (Creating the North American Landscape)
by Larry R. Ford
The Johns Hopkins University Press; Published: 2003-06-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $29.65
Price in other shops: ~~$50.00~~

Comeback Cities: A Blueprint for Urban Neighborhood Revival
by Paul Grogan, Tony Proscio
Basic Books; Published: 2001-12-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.76
Price in other shops: ~~$17.00~~

The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Modern Library Series)
Modern Library; Published: 1993-02-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.23
Price in other shops: ~~$21.95~~