Community Design and the Culture of Cities

Having perceived a widespread failure of most community-scale plans, Eduardo Lozano has created a large and humane vision for community design, geared towards urban planners and designers, as well as those concerned with the communities of the future. Lozano strives to unify theory and practice, seeing that design at community scale is a relatively new responsibility for professionals and seeing the need for an awareness of the systemic nature of urban design. He also highlights relevant lessons from historical examples in order to rediscover the community design métier forgotten after the Industrial Revolution. The author relies on interdisciplinary studies, drawing from biology, ecology, and political science, as well as from history for his fascinating study. Throughout the book there is an emphasis on the interrelationship of design and culture-society, technology, institutions, and values. There is also a stress on the need for an agenda for political and cultural change. The audience for Community Design and the Culture of Cities goes beyond designers and planners to include urban sociologists, anthropologists, historians, and political scientists.

"Very well written....it presents its thesis on the need for interdisciplinary collaboration, conceptual as well as practical, with clarity and verve." Suzanne Keller, Contemporary Sociology, "In fact, this reviewer would rate this book as one of the better illustrated volumes about cities he has examined recently." John Hiltner, Journal of Cultural Geography, "This is a book of dedication and ambition." Landscape Journal, "Lozano provides a very thorough, learned presentation of this approach to spatial design....The book is well-written and uses many pertinent, comparative examples." George Hemmens, Journal of Planning Education and Research