wright. urban spaces and cultural settings
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8/18/2019 Wright. Urban Spaces and Cultural Settings
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Taylor & Francis, Ltd. and Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Inc. are collaborating with JSTOR to
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Urban Spaces and Cultural SettingsAuthor(s): Gwendolyn Wright
Source: Journal of Architectural Education (1984-), Vol. 41, No. 3, Urban History in the 1980s ( Spring, 1988), pp. 10-14Published by: on behalf of theTaylor & Francis, Ltd. Association of Collegiate Schools ofArchitecture, Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1424887Accessed: 04-02-2016 20:08 UTC
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Urban
paces
n d
ultural
Settings
Gwendolyn
Wright
is
an associate
professor
of
architectural
history
at the
Graduate School
of
Architecture,
Plan-
ning,
and
Preservation,
Columbia
Uni-
versity.
She
is the
author of
Moralism
and
the
Model Home: Domestic Archi-
lecture and
Social
Conflict
in
Chicago
icago,
1980)
and
Building
he
Dream:
rmSocial
History
of
Housing
in
America
(Cambridge,Ma., 1983).Hercurrentwork
focuses
on
Frenchurban
design
policies
in
the colonies.
The
complexity
of cities calls
for
a mul-
tidisciplinary
approach,
urging
urban
historians to draw from
social,
eco-
nomic,
political,
intellectual,
as well
as
architectural sources.
In
exploring
different
materials,
urban historians
must
carefully
consider the
motives
of
the
various
people
who
shape
urban
form
and record urban
change.
They
must
approach
urban
history
not as
a
canon of
precedents
or a chronicle of
progress,
but as
a
complex
and
ongoing
enterprise.
Equally important
s the
meaning
of a
city
and how that
meaning changes
over
time.
Urban
history
s
not
just
a
synthesis
of
priorities
and
disciplinary echniques,
but
also a
synthesis
of
experiences
and
visions.
Integration
f social
and
formal
analyses
is
crucial,
for both
are
forma-
tive and each
helps shape
the
other.
The
intricate
webs
of
power
and
meaning
that
are elaborated
through
architectural
space
need
exploration
as
well. To
write
urban
history
s to
give
narrative
orm
o
these
processes.
The recent rise of interest in urban his-
tory among
architects
and
architectural
historians
signals
major
shifts
in
both
professions.
Architects,
absorbing
the
collapse
of
an
absolutist
and ahistorical
version
of
Modernism,
are
searching
for
new
meanings. They
have
retrieved
his-
tory
out of the shadows to make
it the
very
basis of
contemporary
design, pro-
viding
both
a
parti
for
individual
build-
ings
and
a
way
of
relating buildings
to
their
surroundings.
Most architects now
seem to
draw
openly
from a
range
of
sources
that
includes certain
admired
precedents
(whether
classical or
Mod-
ernist-itself
now a
part
of
history)
which
transcend
specific
locales,
as
well
as
more local
architectural and urban
design
traditions.
It
s
almost a
common-
place
to
showhowa
new
building
relates
to its
context-to the
city,
own,
or
neigh-
borhood street-scape-and thus pays
homage
in another
way
to
what came
before.
All the
same,
it is
by
no means an
easy
task to
embrace the
past
and
the
larger
urban
milieu.
Responding
to local tra-
ditions entails
serious
appraisal
of
a
complex
culture,
ven
for
a
small
place-
skills
few
designers
have been
taught.
And
the intellectual
challenge
of broad-
ening
he
scope
of
ourarchitecturalanon
to
include
great
urban
spaces,
as well
as
buildings, requires
new
approaches.
These
larger settings
cannot
always
be
neatly
classified
according
to
specific
dates
and
individual
esigners.
One
must
consider how they took form and
changed
over
time,
acknowledging
the
cumulative influence of
many
different
groups
and
persons.
Simultaneous
with this
shift,
the
very
boundaries
of architectural
history
tself
are
changing,
too. Hitherto
he
discipline
was
characterized
y
a
preoccupation
ith
the
intentions
f the
designer
and
the
for-
mal
analysis
of
singular
monuments. n
recent
years
the
field
has
suddenly
and
dramatically
expanded.
Scholars
are
examining
the
relations of
architecture:
issues
of
patronage,
public
authorities nd
legal
codes,
site
planning,
and the
socio-
politicalreactionsof a community.Build-
ings
are
seldom
studied
n
isolation
now;
in
fact,
many
historians
delve
into the
infrastructure
f
streets,
andscaping,
pen
spaces,
and
even
public
services,
as
they
once
extended theirdomain to construc-
tion
echnology.
The
oosely
defined
"ver-
nacular"has
become
a
significant
ield
of
study,
overing
everything
ot
designed
by
architects,
anging
rom
olk traditions
to the
mass-produced
world
of
specula-
tively-built
ousing,
amusement
arks,
and
work
places.
Structures
nd
spaces
evoke
not
just
heir
designers,
but
all those
who
bring
he
built
nvironmentnto
being,
hose
who
use
or
inhabit
t,
if
only
by
walking
through
a
city
street.
All
of
these
tenden-
cies
have
altered the
scope
and
the
very
enterprise
of
architectural
history.
The
earlier
concerns
are
still
central,
f
course,
but architect
and
building
are now
both
partof a largerurbansetting.
Ideally
hese two
parallel
developments
can 'and
should
benefit
one
another.
Urban
historianscan
teach
architects o
grasp
the
complexities
of cities-or urban
design,
incremental
hanges,
and
social
diversity.
Likewise,
close
associations
with architects can
remind
historiansof
the
formal and
conceptual
ideals
which
preoccupy
designers,
for the
method-
ologies
of such
scholars must
always
be
able
to include a
great
variety
of
goals
and
influences,
even
those which
do not
readily
fit
into
a
social science
model
of
analysis.
Historians,
ike
architects,
oftenfindthis
larger
urban
dimension of their
work
as
frustrating
s
it
is
compelling.
This s
even
true
forthe
study
of
cities
up
through
he
early
modern
period,
though
when "the
world ... was
half a
thousand
years
younger,"
in
the
words
of Johann
Hui-
zinga,
"the
outlines
of
all
things
seemed
more
clearly
marked
than to us."1
Many
diverseforces
were at
work,
in
harmony
or
in
conflict,
to
generate
and then
con-
tinuously
modify
he
urban
environment.
Unravelling
ll
these
influencesbecomes
more than anecdotal
background
if
a
historian wants to
analyze
the
place-
ment
of
Athenian
emples,
the street and
canal patternof Amsterdam,or the hier-
archy
of
housing
in
colonial
Boston.
The
scale
of
earlier cities and the
relative
clarity
of the cultural
orces
at
work
do,
however,
make
them easier
to
take
in
than most
contemporary
cities.
Histori-
ans
and architectscan
more
readily per-
ceive
the kinds
of
questions
they
must
ask about
cities in
any
period:
What is
the
effect
of a
building's
location on
neighborhood development?
What
is
demolished
to
make
room for a
new
Spring
1988
JAE
41/3
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structure?How does
a
project
affect the
local
economy
and social
order?
The
interplay
of historicalforces is even
more
the
case
in
cities since the
early
nineteenth
century,
as the number and
diversity
of
actors
has
become ever
greater,
as the scale of
cities,
theirecon-
omy,
and their cultural
complexity
has
increased almost
exponentially.
Strangely,for those professional urban
historianswho
focus
on the
modern
era,
industrial cities have been the
over-
whelmingly preferred topic,
and statis-
tical
analysis
the
prevailing
methodol-
ogy.
In
part
for
this
reason,
historians
concerned
with
architecture and urban
design
can
open up important
new ter-
rains,
even if
they
concentrate on the
more
traditional
building
types
of their
discipline-religious
and civic
build-
ings,
domestic and commercial archi-
tecture,
heaters and the like.
Cities,
after
all,
often lure
people
because
of these
grand
or
exciting
attractions,
as well as
their
economic
potential.
And,
of
course,
the two dimensions of urban ife are inti-
matelyconnected. As E.B.Whitesaid of
America's
great
metropolis,
"No
one
should
come to New
York unless
he is
willing
to be
lucky."2
-
L.M
., R
4
'77
'
4
A.
r
2 1
ts
41
"J-
4
~ ~ ~ ~-
Al
.7
......
.
. .
...
.2
.
..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~....
al "al
51,;
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~4
4 -
~ ~~~~
. .
..
.
~~~~~~~~~~~r
~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
......
/
~
~~~~......
1
Thomugadi Timgad,Algeria),
a Roman olonial
city,
was
settled
by
veterans
of the
army
at the
height
of the
empire,
ca. 100
A.D.
Jean
Jassus, Timgad Algiers,1953)
In
this
sense,
I
would
argue,
those his-
torians
concerned
withthe
culturalcom-
plexities
of life
in
particular
cities,
rather
thanurban historians
per
se,
provide
an
important
model. Carl Schorske's work
on Viennaand Basel
shows
a wide
range
of culturaland
political figures-includ-
ing
architects like Otto
Wagner
and the
amateur architectural historian Jacob
Burckhardt-responding
to the condi-
tions of their
particular
cities,
even as
they experimented within separate
professional spheres.3
RichardGoldth-
waite's
The
Building
of Renaissance
Florence makes us
appreciate
the
great
palazzi
more
fully by explaining
their
significance
in
the local
economy,
their
adaptation
to
changes
in aristocratic
family
life,
and their
impact
on
neigh-
borhoods and
public space
in the
city.4
Jerrold
Seigel's penetrating
analysis
of
Parisian
bohemia
situates artists and
writers within their
culture,
rather than
mythically part
from
t,
yet
never under-
mines
creativity.5
ohn
Merriman,
n
turn,
brings
to
life the
working-class
districts
of
Limoges,
France's first socialist
city,
stressing
the
role of
neighborhood
insti-
tutions and the conflicts between
tradi-
tion
and
modernity.6
And Thomas Bend-
er's
New YorkIntellect
shows
genera-
tions
of intellectuals
responding
to the
city'scommerce and its ethnicdiversity,
creating
new institutions f
learning
and
neighborhoods
of cultural
vitality.7
It s
no wonder
that cultural
history
has,
in
recent
years,
come to be
perhaps
the
mostinnovative
and
exciting
specializa-
tion
in
the
discipline
of
history.
Yet,
while
many
cultural
historians allude
to
the
significance
of
place
and formal
sym-
bolism,
architecture and urban
design
still
remain
tangential
to
their
explora-
tions.
This need not
be the case.
Even
in
schools of
architecture,
urban
history
can show how
major buildings
and
monuments
ffected the cities
around
them:
reating
distinctive
tyles
and urban
spaces,
to
be
sure,
and likewise
signal-
ing changes
in
the
professional
status
of
artists or the
political power
of
a
gov-
ernmentor the economic structureof a
district.We
thereby juxtapose
the
many
constituencies
which
affected
urban
design
and
city
life at
key
moments of
the
past,
even
though
the
primary
ocus
is on
designers
and theirclients. Such an
approach
can
encourage
students,
most
of whom
will
go
on to be
architects,
planners
or
preservationists
o
consider
not
only
their
own
profession's history,
but also how their
predecessors' goals
Spring
1988JAE41/3
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l
differed
from their own.
It
comes
quite
often as a
revelation to
see that
one's
forebears, too,
had
to
respond
to the
exigencies
of the
particular
cities and
societies where
they
worked. How did
earlier
architects and
planners (an
anachronism,
of
course,
by
which Imean
all those
involved
in
policy decisions)
choose their references from the
past?
How did
they respond
to the
pressures
of clients and public groups? How did
they
affect
cities,
knowingly
and
unknowingly?
What led them
to
expand
their formal and
social horizons to look
at
problems
in
new
ways?
The
con-
straintsof modern
practice
do not seem
unduly imiting
rom such a
perspective.
Urban
history
must,
of
course,
encom-
pass
a
repertoire
of forms and
spaces,
just
as architectural
history
must
cover
certain
key
monuments.
But
the
field
should involve
techniques
for
analysis,
rather han
simply
a
Sweet's
Catalog
of
great spaces
one can
replicate. Today's
design professionals
have to
see
history
as more than a canon of
precedents
or
a chronicle of progress. It is a complex
and
ongoing
enterprise,
always raising
new
questions
and a
multiplicity
f alter-
native
images
about the
past
and the
present.
All
of
us concerned
with
cities
in
the
past
and the
present
should take into
account
"ordinary"
as well
as
"good"
architec-
ture,
"boring"
as well as
grand spaces,
"muddled"
as
well as
elegant
designs.
Unplanned settings,
rather than
care-
fullyplanned
urban
design,
make
up
most
parts
of most
cities,
so we must hink
how
such areas work-whether the
goal
is
understanding
their form in the
past
or
intervening
n the
present.
There is sim-
ply
no
way
to do this without
aking
the
culturaldomain into account. Forexam-
ple,
the
significance
of
the
grid
varied
considerably,
as did its
proportions
and
its
focus,
when
it
was used
by
Greek or
Roman
colonists,
by
Spanish
imperial-
ists,
or
by
American
surveyors. (Figs.
1-
3)
The Piazza San Marco and the Wash-
ington
Mall have evolved over
time,
in
part shaped by
aesthetic
concerns,
in
part
to function as
spaces
for
political
..
i
.... 1 .. ^
ra--
P;'--:..1,T
v?*
iF
lt
^^ .
73,
'
*
'"
li^,:.;Tu -..:.,.,
':'
^i,,
-'
tv*
-
i
r
.
^ 1
.a.' f P.... #.3
Al
a _ v i '
: '
fss +t1',}i.',z,^ u :.
.......
I
,
tv I
,-r^
It
.1..
?
._
LI
.Z .
i
.
.'I
?T
tI.
I k.
.
....
.~
.....-.X... ..
I
,
'4]L
-'X'- '1
m....i
'""
J
E
.' /
2
Cholula
(Mexico),
as
represented
n
a
drawing
of
1580,
shows thedesignprinciples ecently odifiedas the Lawsof
the
Indies,
especially
in
the
public buildings facing
the
arcaded
plaza.
Leonardo
Benevolo,
Storia
dell'architettura
del Rinascimento
Bari,
1973)
ritual. Less
stately settings
as well-for
example European
Jewish
ghettos,
American
commercial
strips,
or ethnic
neighborhoods
n
any
large
city-should
also
be studied as
cultural
artifacts
with
both
formal and social elements.
No
Zeitgeist
rule can describe how cul-
ture and aesthetics interrelate n all cir-
cumstances,
not even
for one
time and
place.
Yet hese two
analytical poles
are
always
at work
together
in urban his-
tory.
In
fact,
even a
"purely
formal"
solution,
such as Cataneo's ideal towns
of the Renaissance or L'Enfant'sWash-
ington,
D.C.,
suggests
the unusual
power
and abstractionof architectand client in
thattime and
place.
And,
once the
space
began
to
be
used,
the
cultural
realm
of
course further
complicates
our full
understanding
of the forms.
The
urbanhistorian
must,
herefore,
how
how
certain
kindsof
buildings
and
spaces
came
to be
built and to
gain
preemin-
ence,
while others
remained thwarted
projects
or secret
personal
visions.
This,
not
ncidentally,
ntails
considering
which
forms
gained
favor
among
architects nd
which-whether the
same or
different-
appealed
to
more
speculative
builders
and
clients. For
oo
long
we
have studied
the historyof what architectsdrew as if
it
were
necessarily
the
history
of how
cities
looked.
We mustalso
consider how
the
more familiar
prototypes
relate to
less
well-known variations or even
anti-
thetical
images.
After
all,
the influence
of a form or
style by
no means
simply
filtersdown
through
he social
structure,
nor is it
mere
backwardness not to
copy
what
is
fashionable. Formalchoices and
cultural
priorities
were at stake when
provincial
cities like
Boston or Edin-
Spring
1988
JAE
41/3
.
....
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3
Chicago,
Illinois,
expanding
along
the lake
and
river
in
1855,
had
only recently
become a commercial
entrepot
for
the
Midwest. Harold M.
Mayer
and
Richard C.
Wade,
Chi-
cago:
Growth of a
Metropolis
(Chicago,
1969)
burgh
introduced
variations on the
pat-
ternsof
London.
Contemporary
region-
This
approach
does
not
mean
thatsocial
considerations
should
usurp
the
role
of
formal
analysis,
but
rather that
the
two
must be
integrated.
Neither
society
nor
form is
the
passive
mirror
of the
other-
which
should
make
us
suspicious
of
overly simplistic,
static
notionsof archi-
tecture either
"reflecting"
social
forces
or
"representing"
a
fixed
power
rela-
tionship
to all
observers.
Both
architec-
ture
and
society
are
formative,
each
helping shape
the
other,
and
nowhere
is
this
more
true
than in
any
kind
of
urban
building.
There
is
no standard
formula
for
connecting
the
two realms
of
inquiry;
sometimes
architecture does
respond
primarily
o
the
aesthetic
concerns
of
the
profession,
while
society
can
move in
hepigshp
...,.t:
.-e.......:'~....."................r,
,
... no
hr ....s
new
directions
without
generating
architectural
or
urbanistic
estaments
to
that
change.
The
shifting
influences
and
responses
between
these
two kinds of
reality,
the
formal
and
the
social,
is
the
very
essence
of urban
history.
This
analytic
process
obviously
draws
from
several
disciplines,
and even
sev-
eral
kinds of
history:
cultural,
social,
economic, political and intellectual,as
well as
architectural.
Urban
history
should
ideally
juxtapose
many
perspec-
tives
about how
cities
functionand
what
makes
certain
places
effective, whether
in
formal,
functional,
or
cultural terms.
Only
in
this
way
is it
possible
to
take
account
of
the
many
different"filters"-
to use
Carlo
Ginzburg's
phrase-through
which
different
groups
of
people
see and
use the
city.8
The
challenge
of
doing
urban
history
today
lies in
being
able
to conceive
of
one's work as
a
synthesis,
not
just
of
priorities
and even
disciplinary
tech-
niques,
but
also
of
experiences
in
and
visions of a
place.
To
speak
of
synthesis
is
not to call
for a
sweeping
portrait
of
supposedly quintessential
elements
of
urban
life or
form,
but rather to
find
comprehensible
ways
to
juxtapose
the
manydifferentapproaches to and real-
ities
of
the
city.
I
stress
comprehensible
because there
is
always
the risk of
sim-
ply
reeling
off
facts, stories,
and
images.
This
profusion
can
obviously
be
over-
whelming,
and a chaos
of
pictures,
events,
and
data-while
resonant with
one
definition of urban
life-has little
intellectualvalue.
The
urbanhistorianmust
herefore have
a
clear
goal.
Inthe most
general
terms,
thisfirstentails
choosing
whetherone is
seeking
to
explain
theforms
more
clearly
and
fully,
or
to
understand the
society
through
this new
prism.
Michael
Bax-
andall,
who
provided
one of the
most
compelling examples of culturalhistory
in
his work
on
Renaissance
painting,
rightly
stresses that
one
must not
simpl-
isticallyattempt
to fuse art
and
society.9
Yet
culture,
he
continues,
does not
falsely
modulate
between the
two,
so
long
as it
is
taken inits
classical
sense,
as the
skills,
values,
knowledge,
and
means of
expression
within
a
society.
It
is
in
this
sense
that
urban
historiansmust
venture
into the
cultural
domain,
seeking
the
meanings
of a
variety
of
forms and
form-
givers.
The
goal
of
synthesis
in
urban
history s,
therefore,
that
of
bringing
together
the
myriadexperiences, intentions,and set-
tings
of
urban
places
at a
given
time-
without
producing
a
cacophony
that is
too loud
to
appreciate.
In
formal
terms,
one
must
consider both
monuments
and
the
spaces
around
them,
the
ordinary
buildings
and
the
pattern
of streets
and
open
space,
the effect of this
composite
in
the
past
and
changes
made
over time.
One must
also distill
he
distinctive
oices
of
architects
and
clients,
of
elite and
ordinary
citizens.
Focusing
on the
par-
Spring
1988JAE
41/3
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ticularities of such
groups,
and even
possible
conflicts between
them,
checks
the
tendency
to subsume
real differ-
ences under some rubricof
a common
or
universal
response
to cities and their
buildings.
No
single
voice can
predom-
inate
absolutely.
The aesthetic and
urbanistic
trengths
of
Daniel
Burnham's
1909
Chicago
Plan
deserve our
appre-
ciation, but the historicalaccount must
also
acknowledge
its benefits
o
the
city's
industrialistsand the
critiques
of Jane
Addams and other reformers
who
charged
that he
paid virtually
no
atten-
tion to
Chicago's
crowded
immigrant
neighborhoods.
These distinctionsare
critical or under-
standing
how cities took
the form
they
did and how
people
experienced
them.
Even architects and
planners,
builders
and
politicians
cannot
be
lumped
together
as
if
they
viewed
the
city
in the
same
way
because
they
all have the
power
to intervene. Most
architects
see
a streetscape in terms of its individual
buildings,
while
builders
see
it
as
a
unit,
based
ultimately
on
the
overall devel-
opment
potential,
and
planners
see the
same
place
as a
map
of
legal
codes-
or social
inequities.
Other
kindsof
groups
are even more
wide-ranging
in their
reactions
to
the
city. By
class,
ethnicity,
age,
and
gender people
relate
quite
dif-
ferently
o
parks
and
department
stores,
for
example,
or to
city
halls
and
civic
monuments.
Moreover,
especially
in the
modern
world,
all
people
experience
the
city
in
multiple
roles-for
example,
as
residents
of
a
neighborhood,
employees
in a certain
milieu,
as members of a
political
action or a
religious
sect. These
shiftingperspectives, oo, affecthowthey
use and
relate
to cities.
The
recognition
of such
divergences
s not
merely
a
populist
stance.
Indeed,
it
sug-
gests
the
necessary,
if
difficult,
esponsi-
bility
of
the historian o
explain
not
only
what
happened,
but
also what
it
meantat
the time and what that
legacy
means
to
us
today-in
both
our
separate
identities
and
our
unity
as
a
profession
or a nation.
It
s no
longer
sufficient o
posit
a
historical
narrative hat
explains
urban
change-
new
styles,
building ypes, technologies,
and
images
for
cities-by
pointing
only
to the
major igures
who
espoused
these
innovations.
Neither
architectsnor
politi-
cal leaders can
necessarily uarantee
hat
certain
nnovationswill come to be
gen-
erally
accepted,
pervading
all levels of a
city
and
spreading
beyond
tsboundaries.
For
example,
the
simplification
of hous-
ingdesign
inthe UnitedStates at the turn
of the last
century
has
by
and
large
been
explained
as the effect
of
key
architec-
tural
innovators,
notably
Frank
Lloyd
Wright.By ocusing
on
Chicago,
the
city
where
Wright practiced during
these
years,
it is
possible
to situate
him
more
accurately.
It is not that
Wright's
work
did not
impress
other
architects,
even
builders,
carpenters,
and the
general
public.
But
hey
had
very
different rea-
sons for
promoting
a
turn toward
sim-
pler,
more
standardized
dwellings.
And
the
city
itself was an embattled
arena
where each of these groups was trying
to seize the
right
to
define
what
good
housing
should be.
Simply
to
describe
the formal
changes
would miss
the fas-
cinating
complexity
of attitudes and
conflicts
which
underlay
how these
architecturalorms
were
seen,
where
they
were
built,
and
how
they
were used.10
Understanding
what
people
were
trying
to do with
architectureand urban
design
at
particular
moments
in
the
past
is
one
aspect
of
recovering
the
meanings
of a
place.
One must ake full account of the
designer's
aesthetic
goals
and the client's
symbolic
intentions,
no matterwhat their
status;
one must bear in mind the con-
straintsof
laws,
economy,
tradition,
and
fashion, as well as searching for inno-
vations. The
various
public
responses
to
a
design
and
the
changes
or
compro-
mises
they
elicit must be taken
seriously
in
their
own
right,
rather han
dismissed
as
philistine
efforts to
undermine
the
integrity
of
the
designer.
Formal
analy-
sis
in
urban
history
should not
be
iso-
lated
from such cultural
ssues,
but nei-
ther
should
it
be
downplayed
as inci-
dental.
Only
in this
way
can we
grasp
the
full
implications
of
urban
places.
Urban
history
then is both
an act of
recovery
and a
creative
gesture
toward
the
future,
a
way
to
comprehend
and
build
upon
places
and
cultures vertime.
Architectural
design
becomes an
ele-
ment in a
complex process
that
creates
and
transforms
place;
it
is
at
once mem-
ory
and
vision,
problem
and
resolution,
individual nd
collective
expression.
The
goal, in part, is to be able to orient our-
selves-as architects and
planners,
his-
toriansand
citizens-to the intricate
webs
of
power
and
meaning
that are thus
elaborated,
in the
past
and
present,
through
architectural
space.
To write
urban
history
s
to
give
narrative orm to
this
process;
to
design
with
history
in
mind
s
to
acknowledge
the
multiple
cul-
turaluses and
meanings
places
can
have,
in
modern
society
as
in the
past.
Notes
1
Huizinga,
ohann
The
Waning
f the Middle
Ages:
A
Study
of the Formsof
Life,
Thought
nd Art n
Franceand the
Netherlands
n
heXlVthnd
XVth
enturies dwardArnold
(London)
924,
p.1
2 White,E. B. Here Is New YorkHarper& Brothers New
York)
949,
p.
10
3
Schorske,
Carl
E.
Fin-de-Siecle
ViennaAlfred
A.
Knopf
(New
York)
980
and"Scienceas Vocation n
Burckhardt's
Basel,"
n
The
University
nd The
City
romMedieval
Ori-
gins
to the
Present
Thomas
Bender,
d.)
Oxford
University
Press
New York)
orthcoming
4
Goldthwaite,
RichardThe
Building
of
Renaissance Flor-
ence Johns
HopkinsUniversity
ress
(Baltimore
nd Lon-
don)
1980
5
Seigel,
Jerrold
Bohemian
Paris:
Culture,Politics,
and
the
Boundaries f
Bourgeois
Life,
1830-1930
Viking/Elizabeth
SiftonBook
(New
York)
1986
6
Merriman,
ohn
The Red
City:
Limoges
and
the
French
Nineteenth
Century
Oxford
University
Press
(New York)
1985
7
Bender,
ThomasNew York ntellect:A
History
f
Intellec-
tual
Life
n New
York
City,
rom
1750 to the
Beginnings
f
Our Own Time
AlfredA.
Knopf New York)
987
8
Ginzburg,
Carlo
TheCheese and the Worms:TheCosmos
of a
Sixteenth-Century
iller
(John
and
Anne
Tedeschi,
trans.) ohnsHopkinsUniversity ress BaltimorendLon-
don)
1980
9
Baxandall,
Michael
"Art,
Society,
and
the
Bouguer
Prin-
ciple,"
Representations
2
(Fall
1985)
pp.
32-43
10
Wright,
Gwendolyn
Moralism and the Model Home:
Domestic
Architecture nd Cultural
Conflict
n
Chicago,
1873-1913
University
f
Chicago
Press
Chicago)
1980and
"Architecturalractice nd Social Visionn
Wright'sEarly
Designs,"
in
Nature n the Workof Frank
Lloyd
Wright
(Vincent cully, d.) University
f
Chicago
Press
Chicago)
1988
Spring
1988
JAE 41/3
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