Author : Tom Vanderbilt
Publisher : Princeton Architectural Press
Page : 252 pages
File Size : 29,98 MB
Release : 2002-04
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 9781568983059
Mixing first-person narrative of his travels around the U.S. in search of Cold War sites and objects with an extensive accumulation of historical facts, the author explores Cold War America's obsession with protecting itself from the nuclear threat through various forms of architectural structures, such as missile silos, fallout shelters, nuclear waste dumps, monoliths like the windowless PacBell building in Los Angeles, and countless motels and diners named "Atomic."
Author : Edward Glaeser
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 481 pages
File Size : 17,91 MB
Release : 2021-09-07
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0593297687
One of our great urbanists and one of our great public health experts join forces to reckon with how cities are changing in the face of existential threats the pandemic has only accelerated Cities can make us sick. They always have—diseases spread more easily when more people are close to one another. And disease is hardly the only ill that accompanies urban density. Cities have been demonized as breeding grounds for vice and crime from Sodom and Gomorrah on. But cities have flourished nonetheless because they are humanity’s greatest invention, indispensable engines for creativity, innovation, wealth, and connection, the loom on which the fabric of civilization is woven. But cities now stand at a crossroads. During the global COVID crisis, cities grew silent as people worked from home—if they could work at all. The normal forms of socializing ground to a halt. How permanent are these changes? Advances in digital technology mean that many people can opt out of city life as never before. Will they? Are we on the brink of a post-urban world? City life will survive but individual cities face terrible risks, argue Edward Glaeser and David Cutler, and a wave of urban failure would be absolutely disastrous. In terms of intimacy and inspiration, nothing can replace what cities offer. Great cities have always demanded great management, and our current crisis has exposed fearful gaps in our capacity for good governance. It is possible to drive a city into the ground, pandemic or not. Glaeser and Cutler examine the evolution that is already happening, and describe the possible futures that lie before us: What will distinguish the cities that will flourish from the ones that won’t? In America, they argue, deep inequities in health care and education are a particular blight on the future of our cities; solving them will be the difference between our collective good health and a downward spiral to a much darker place.
Author : Tom Vanderbilt
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 235 pages
File Size : 10,34 MB
Release : 2010-04-15
Category : History
ISBN : 0226846954
On the road to Survival City, Tom Vanderbilt maps the visible and invisible legacies of the cold war, exhuming the blueprints for the apocalypse we once envisioned and chronicling a time when we all lived at ground zero. In this road trip among ruined missile silos, atomic storage bunkers, and secret test sites, a lost battleground emerges amid the architecture of the 1950s, accompanied by Walter Cotten’s stunning photographs. Survival City looks deep into the national soul, unearthing the dreams and fears that drove us during the latter half of the twentieth century. “A crucial and dazzling book, masterful, and for me at least, intoxicating.”—Dave Eggers “A genuinely engaging book, perhaps because [Vanderbilt] is skillful at conveying his own sense of engagement to the reader.”—Los Angeles Times “A retracing of Dr. Strangelove as ordinary life.”—Greil Marcus, Bookforum
Author : Stefano Bloch
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 212 pages
File Size : 17,47 MB
Release : 2019-11-14
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 022649358X
“We could have been called a lot of things: brazen vandals, scared kids, threats to social order, self-obsessed egomaniacs, marginalized youth, outsider artists, trend setters, and thrill seekers. But, to me, we were just regular kids growing up hard in America and making the city our own. Being ‘writers’ gave us something to live for and ‘going all city’ gave us something to strive for; and for some of my friends it was something to die for.” In the age of commissioned wall murals and trendy street art, it’s easy to forget graffiti’s complicated and often violent past in the United States. Though graffiti has become one of the most influential art forms of the twenty-first century, cities across the United States waged a war against it from the late 1970s to the early 2000s, complete with brutal police task forces. Who were the vilified taggers they targeted? Teenagers, usually, from low-income neighborhoods with little to their names except a few spray cans and a desperate need to be seen—to mark their presence on city walls and buildings even as their cities turned a blind eye to them. Going All City is the mesmerizing and painful story of these young graffiti writers, told by one of their own. Prolific LA writer Stefano Bloch came of age in the late 1990s amid constant violence, poverty, and vulnerability. He recounts vicious interactions with police; debating whether to take friends with gunshot wounds to the hospital; coping with his mother’s heroin addiction; instability and homelessness; and his dread that his stepfather would get out of jail and tip his unstable life into full-blown chaos. But he also recalls moments of peace and exhilaration: marking a fresh tag; the thrill of running with his crew at night; exploring the secret landscape of LA; the dream and success of going all city. Bloch holds nothing back in this fierce, poignant memoir. Going All City is an unflinching portrait of a deeply maligned subculture and an unforgettable account of what writing on city walls means to the most vulnerable people living within them.
Author : George E. Buker
Publisher : University Press of America
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 18,28 MB
Release : 1983
Category : History
ISBN :
. History of St. Augustine divided into eight time periods and written by eight different authors.
Author : Leo F. Goodstadt
Publisher : Hong Kong University Press
Page : 241 pages
File Size : 43,51 MB
Release : 2019-11-01
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9888528491
A City Mismanaged traces the collapse of good governance in Hong Kong, explains its causes, and exposes the damaging impact on the community’s quality of life. Leo Goodstadt argues that the current well-being and future survival of Hong Kong have been threatened by disastrous policy decisions made by chief executives and their principal officials. Individual chapters look at the most shocking examples of mismanagement: the government’s refusal to implement the Basic Law in full; official reluctance to halt the large-scale dilapidation of private sector homes into accommodation unfit for habitation; and ministerial toleration of the rise of new slums. Mismanagement of economic relations with Mainland China is shown to have created severe business losses. Goodstadt’s riveting investigations include extensive scandals in the post-secondary education sector and how lives are at risk because of the inadequate staff levels and limited funding allocated to key government departments. This book offers a unique and very powerful account of Hong Kong’s struggle to survive. ‘Goodstadt demonstrates how the neglect of social rights in managing the SAR has brought about serious consequences through the discussion of housing, medical services, and education. A highly readable title with a lot of interesting arguments for those who really care about Hong Kong.’ —Lui Tai-lok, Department of Asian and Policy Studies, Education University of Hong Kong ‘Goodstadt gives a well-grounded and relentless rebuke of the HKSAR government for failing to safeguard lives, quality of living and the interests of its people in the past twenty years. It is a poignant siren that calls for reflection and correction.’ —Christine M. S. Fang, Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong ‘Goodstadt utilizes his long experience in public policy in Hong Kong to interpret the city’s mismanagement. He supplies a devastating critique of the fallacy of the approach taken by the Chief Executives and the senior leaders.’ —David R. Meyer, Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis
Author : Jeremy L. Wallace
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 265 pages
File Size : 24,28 MB
Release : 2014
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0199378983
China's management of urbanization is an under-appreciated factor in the regime's longevity. The Chinese Communist Party fears "Latin Americanization" -- the emergence of highly unequal megacities with their attendant slums and social unrest. Such cities threaten the survival of nondemocratic regimes. To combat the threat, many regimes, including China's, favor cities in policymaking. Cities and Stability shows this "urban bias" to be a Faustian Bargain: cities may be stabilized for a time, but the massive in-migration from the countryside that results can generate the conditions for political upheaval. Through its hukou system of internal migration restrictions, China has avoided this dilemma, simultaneously aiding urbanites and keeping farmers in the countryside. The system helped prevent social upheaval even during the Great Recession, when tens of millions of laid-off migrant workers dispersed from coastal cities. Jeremy Wallace's powerful account forces us to rethink the relationship between cities and political stability throughout the developing world.
Author : Leon Pantenburg
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 218 pages
File Size : 28,57 MB
Release : 2020-05-19
Category : Self-Help
ISBN : 1510751920
Be ready for any emergency, at any time. Could you survive in the wilderness on your own? From clothing recommendations to picking the best firestarter, expert survival instructor Leon Pantenburg shares his immense knowledge of bushcraft and survivalist skills so that anyone—backpackers, preppers, city dwellers, and more—can be ready for a possible emergency. In Bushcraft Survival, Pantenburg delivers practical tips and anecdotes that cater to readers who are looking to improve their outdoor skills and prepare for every potential disaster. Drawing from his personal experience as an avid outdoorsman and years as a journalist, Pantenburg lays out easy-to-follow steps to prep for both short and long-term survival situations. As natural disasters become increasingly present and people continue to rely on reality television shows for survival tips, developing bushcraft abilities is becoming more and more important. In this thorough handbook, Pantenburg covers a wide range of topics, including: Developing a survival mindset Crafting survival kits Choosing clothing best suited to survival Picking materials and objects to help you survive Building a variety of shelters Deciding what survival tools you should pack and which you should leave at home Effectively make a fire using different techniques Filled with time-tested techniques and first-hand experience, Bushcraft Survival is the ideal book for those who want to step up their hiking or camping game, as well as those who are searching for relevant advice on emergency preparedness.
Author : Ashley Shelby
Publisher : Minnesota Historical Society Press
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 22,61 MB
Release : 2003
Category : History
ISBN : 9780873515009
The gripping, true-life story of one of the most destructive floods in U.S. history and its effect on one city and its citizens.
Author : Tom Brown, Jr.
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 44,55 MB
Release : 1986-03-15
Category : Self-Help
ISBN : 0425091724
Prepare for the worst with this practical survival guide from bestselling author Tom Brown. Today most Americans live in the city or suburbs—a safe, comfortable life, at least on the surface. Few of us realize how close we are to the elemental struggle for survival, until disaster strikes. Yet it is possible to be prepared. In this uniquely practical handbook, Tom Brown, Jr. gives you the specific skills and detailed knowledge you need to protect yourself and those you love in almost any emergency. • Alternative heat and light sources • Preventing and coping with electrical failure • Automobile survival techniques • Protecting your home from intruders • Unconventional food sources for the city dweller • Surviving earthquakes, floods, blizzards, hurricanes, and more • Guarding against urban crime TOM BROWN'S FIELD GUIDES: America's most popular nature reference books, Tom Brown's bestselling field guides are specially designed for both beginners and experienced explorers. Fully illustrated and comprehensive, each volume includes practical information, time-tested nature skills, and exciting new ways to rediscover the earth around us.
