Contents: Preface Introduction The Downtown Imperative and the Need for Comparative Studies1. The American Downtown: The Myth of a Golden Age 2. The Evolution of the American Downtown, 1850-2000 3. The Downtown Stage: Physical Site, Street Morphology, and Civic Space 4. Traditional Downtown Functions: Offices, Retailing, Hotels, and Convention Centers 5. Downtown Expands: Major Attractions, Historic Districts, Residential Neighborhoods, and Transportation Innovations 6. Ranking Downtowns: Toward a Model of Spacial Organization Notes Bibliography Index
This is micro-regional geography at its best, and the narrative is enriched throughout by the author's intimate field knowledge of every downtown and every activity he discusses. America's New Downtowns will find a lasting place in the literature of urban geography and urban studies and planning. -- Peter Muller, University of Miami
Larry R. Ford is a professor of geography at San Diego State University and has taught urban geography for thirty years. He is the author of Cities and Buildings: Skyscrapers, Skid Rows, and Suburbs and The Spaces between Buildings, both available from Johns Hopkins.
How rare and refreshing it is to come across a book that abruptly transforms our vision of the world, or at least a significant segment thereof. Just such a splendid rarity is Larry Ford's America's New Downtowns. After declaring that 'Our old models and generalizations are out of date' and that his goal is to get people thinking about what makes a good downtown and why,' our author offers a provocative new model and a wealth of empirical evidence and insights that could keep us thinking about and observing the core neighborhoods of our cities, and perhaps even their betterment, for some time to come... This is a major contribution to our understanding of contemporary American life. File it under 'Required Reading.'. -- Wilbur Zelinsky Professional Geographer Perceptive... Challenging myths of an idyllic past, Ford offers a new historical and comparative overview that reads downtowns through process as well as through an assemblage of different elements-topography, places, activities, attractions, facilities, and connections... The historical and programmatic illuminations of this study should interest general readers and academic and planning professionals alike. Choice This is a book with a purpose that succeeds admirably in not becoming partisan. It is a serviceable book that does what it sets out to do, which is to create a vocabulary of comparative terms for assessing American downtowns. -- Jerry Herron Indiana Magazine of History The fruit of long experience and extensive recent observations. -- Jurgen Lafrenz Urban Morphology Ford is a knowledgeable commentator on the American City. -- David Ley Progress in Human Geography The text is free of jargon, argues its points in a straightforward manner and can easily be read by the general public interested in the topic. -- Ola Johansson Pennsylvania Geographer
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