Eamonn Canniffe - Böcker

Although contemporary practice in urbanism has many sources of design guidelines, it lacks theory to provide a flexible approach to the complexities of most urban situations. The author provides that theoretical framework, looking beyond the style obsession of urban makeovers to the fundamental elements of city-making. The scope of this book takes in illuminating historical analysis and significant theoretical coherence, while recent case studies link the physical environment to the citizens within it, ultimately offering a new methodology for the analysis and design of urban spaces which encourages a balance between diversity and community.

Although contemporary practice in urbanism has many sources of design guidelines, it lacks theory to provide a flexible approach to the complexities of most urban situations. The author provides that theoretical framework, looking beyond the style obsession of urban makeovers to the fundamental elements of city-making. The scope of this book takes in illuminating historical analysis and significant theoretical coherence, while recent case studies link the physical environment to the citizens within it, ultimately offering a new methodology for the analysis and design of urban spaces which encourages a balance between diversity and community.

Once again, new interpretations are presented of some of the most famous architecture of the period. Work by lesser-known architects, whose influence and role have been overlooked by conventional histories of the subject, is discussed. The case study structure allows each example to be discussed and used as a springboard to explore different theoretical approaches. Filled with beautiful photographs, plans and architect's drawings, this is a clear and accessible discussion on a period of architecture that engages many questions still under debate in architecture today.

Through a detailed study of the principal spaces of Italian cities, this book explores the relationship between political systems and their methods of representation in architecture. Illustrated by contemporary photographs and analytical drawings, it examines significant piazzas and situates these examples in their social and political contexts, highlighting the urban evidence of shifts between autocratic and democratic forms of government through history. The ideological role of political architecture is analyzed through the work of various theorists including ancient sources, Renaissance thinkers and modern critics. The complex evolution of individual spaces over time is represented by their physical layering from ancient times to the present day. Other examples connect the development of different characteristic types of Italian urban form in chronological sequence, categorized by art historical and political periods.