View from the Urban Loft


Book Description

As the world hurtles towards urbanization at an ever-increasing pace, there arises the need for further theological reflection on the city. Globalization, international immigration, and densification in cities are having a transformative impact on the urban landscape. Urban mission is at the forefront of many denominations, church planting networks, ministries, and mission organizations yearning for citywide transformation. How are we to think biblically and theologically about the city? View from the Urban Loft will take readers through the development of cities throughout history, act as a guide to navigating the current forces shaping urban environments, and seek to uncover a theology of the city that gives Christians a rationale and a biblical understanding of the meaning and purposes of the city and then how to live in it for the glory of God.




Loft Living


Book Description

Behind the dirty, cast-iron facades of nineteenth-century loft buildings, an elegant style of life developed during the 1960s and 1970s. This style of life -- of using the city as a consumption mode -- was tied to the presence of artists, whose "happenings," performances, and studio spaces shaped a public perception of the good life at the center of the city.




Hopeful Realism in Urban Ministry


Book Description

What, pray tell, does a faithful urban ministry require if not a triadic relationship of prayer, justice, and hope? Could such a theologically conjunctive relationship of prayer, justice, and hope fortify urban ministry and challenge students and practitioners to ponder and practice beyond the box? Frequently, justice is collapsed to charity, hope into wishful thinking or temporarily arrested despair, and prayer a grasp at quick-fix interventions. An urban ministry's steadfast public and prophetic witness longs for the depth and width of this triad. Via three countries' decades of endeavors, one chapter brainstorms urban ministry practices while another's literature survey signals crucial convictions. Amid many, seminal theologians are summoned to ground urban ministry intimations and implications: Niebuhr on justice, Moltmann on hope, and Merton on contemplative prayer. Evident is passion that fuels compassion in the service of justice, hope that engages despair, and prayer that draws from the contemplative center of it all--thankful resources for long haul ministry. The triad presses to illumine a concrete ministry's engagement of relentless, forced option issues yet with significant networks resourcing. Contrast-awareness animates endurance. The summary exegetes the original grace-based serenity prayer. Hence, hope vitally balances realism's temptation to cynicism. Realism saves hope from irrelevancy.




Contemporary Mission Theology


Book Description

A resource for the classroom that specifically addresses the missiological issues of the twenty-first century, this collection in honor of Charles E. Van Engen features contributions from practically all the leading lights of the missiology world. Scholars including Stephen Bevans, Roger Schroeder, van Thanh Nguyen, Mary Motte, Gerald Anderson, Scott Sunquist, and many others offer their insights and reflections, focusing on the impact of cultural and demographic changes on the nature and purpose of Christian mission. (Publisher).




Santa Fe Modern


Book Description

First survey of modernist and contemporary architecture and interiors in the richly layered architectural history of Santa Fe Santa Fe Modern reveals the high desert landscape as an ideal setting for bold, abstracted forms of modernist houses. Wide swaths of glass, deep-set portals, long porches, and courtyards allow vistas, color, and light to become integral parts of the very being of a house, emboldening a way to experience a personal connection to the desert landscape. The architects featured draw from the New Mexican architectural heritage--they use ancient materials such as adobe in combination with steel and glass, and they apply this language to the proportions and demands exacted by today's world. The houses they have designed are confident examples of architecture that is particular to the New Mexico landscape and climate, and yet simultaneously evoke the rigorous expressions of modernism. The vigor and the allure of modern art and architecture hearten each other in a way that is visible and exciting, and this book demonstrates the synergistic relationship between art, architecture, and the land.




The Lofts of SoHo


Book Description

A groundbreaking look at the transformation of SoHo. American cities entered a new phase when, beginning in the 1950s, artists and developers looked upon a decaying industrial zone in Lower Manhattan and saw, not blight, but opportunity: cheap rents, lax regulation, and wide open spaces. Thus, SoHo was born. From 1960 to 1980, residents transformed the industrial neighborhood into an artist district, creating the conditions under which it evolved into an upper-income, gentrified area. Introducing the idea—still potent in city planning today—that art could be harnessed to drive municipal prosperity, SoHo was the forerunner of gentrified districts in cities nationwide, spawning the notion of the creative class. In The Lofts of SoHo, Aaron Shkuda studies the transition of the district from industrial space to artists’ enclave to affluent residential area, focusing on the legacy of urban renewal in and around SoHo and the growth of artist-led redevelopment. Shkuda explores conflicts between residents and property owners and analyzes the city’s embrace of the once-illegal loft conversion as an urban development strategy. As Shkuda explains, artists eventually lost control of SoHo’s development, but over several decades they nonetheless forced scholars, policymakers, and the general public to take them seriously as critical actors in the twentieth-century American city.




The Right Color


Book Description

The definitive guide to paint by the nation’s most sought-after color consultant When Martha Stewart was developing her first paint collection, the Araucana Colors (based on the hues of her chickens’ eggs), she turned to the nation’s top color consultant: Eve Ashcraft. Eve helped Martha to pinpoint the colors of that enormously successful paint line, thus assisting in transforming an industry along the way. In her first book, The Right Color, her own curated palette (her paint line launches this fall) and countless other favorite shades and color combinations provide inspiration for every room in the house. Packed with trade secrets, such as how to make a small room look bigger, how to use color to brighten a space, and how to use paint to resolve myriad architectural challenges, this book will give anyone the confidence to choose a palette that will make the most of any space.




San Diego Magazine


Book Description

San Diego Magazine gives readers the insider information they need to experience San Diego-from the best places to dine and travel to the politics and people that shape the region. This is the magazine for San Diegans with a need to know.




Live-Work Planning and Design


Book Description

“Although the live-work concept is now accepted among progressive urban design and planning professionals, the specifics that define the term, and its application, remain sketchy. This encyclopedic work is sure to change that, providing the critical information that is needed by architects, planners and citizens.” -Peter Katz, Author, The New Urbanism, and Planning Director, Arlington County, Virginia Live-Work Planning and Design is the only comprehensive guide to the design and planning of live-work spaces for architects, designers, and urban planners. Readers will learn from built examples of live-work, both new construction and renovation, in a variety of locations. Urban planners, developers, and economic development staff will learn how various municipalities have developed and incorporated live-work within building codes and city plans. The author, whose pioneering website, www.live-work.com, has been guiding practitioners and users of live-work since 1998, is the United States' leading expert on the subject.




San Diego Magazine


Book Description

San Diego Magazine gives readers the insider information they need to experience San Diego-from the best places to dine and travel to the politics and people that shape the region. This is the magazine for San Diegans with a need to know.