Richard Plunz

Framed by the period of the Great Acceleration, these writings and projects represent a critical commentary on the state of architecture and urbanism and their causal role in global metamorphosis. On the eve of Plunz's status as Emeritus at Columbia University, New York Global bridges five decades of his pedagogical commitment to question the cannons of the design and urbanism fields and their relationship to the contemporary built environment. Global urbanization serves as a backdrop for a heightened consideration of the intermingling of housing, infrastructure, and pedagogy, as he negotiates the evolution of mainstream theory and praxis in architecture and planning. Through interviews, syllabi excerpts, essays, discussions, and projects, New York City is projected as a lens for understanding the potential for metropolises everywhere to serve as firewalls against dystopic social inequities and ecological adversity. In questioning the discourse surrounding urban research and action, Plunz engages with the primordial question of "urban" itself. This book is not a cautionary tale, but rather an assemblage of timestamped evidence toward understanding our current condition. Closely studying the very tools that have fostered today's environmental and societal consequences, each segment contributes to understanding engagement with a post-accelerated future.

'City Riffs' traces the changing perspectives of urban design within an ever-changing global context. Moving between sixteen cities, the book also considers trans-disciplinary aspects of urbanism; formal and informal growth in Kumasi and Caracas, post-colonial structures in New Delhi and Prague, post-urban phenomena in Detroit and Brussels; cultural transitions in Antwerp and Salzburg; the changing nature of place in Seoul and Mostar; and new ecological realities in New York and Rome. Urbanism is viewed as the production of space-integrating aspects of design, ecology, and engineering, as well as other influences on urban cognition such as social, economical, and psychological interactions. As it covers a wide range of places and methods, this book will be an asset to anyone who works on, lives in, or thinks about cities. AUTHOR: Richard Plunz is Professor of Architecture and Director of the Earth Institute's Urban Design Lab at Columbia University, where he has also chaired the Division of Architecture and directed the Urban Design Program at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. SELLING POINTS: . Interlinks various disciplines of urbanism 30 illustrations

Since its emergence in the mid-nineteenth century as the nation's "metropolis," New York has faced the most challenging housing problems of any American city, but it has also led the nation in innovation and reform. The horrors of the tenement were perfected in New York at the same time that the very rich were building palaces along Fifth Avenue; public housing for the poor originated in New York, as did government subsidies for middle-class housing. A standard in the field since its publication in 1992, A History of Housing in New York City traces New York's housing development from 1850 to the present in text and profuse illustrations. Richard Plunz explores the housing of all classes, with comparative discussion of the development of types ranging from the single-family house to the high-rise apartment tower. His analysis is placed within the context of the broader political and cultural development of New York City. This revised edition extends the scope of the book into the city's recent history, adding three decades to the study, covering the recent housing bubble crisis, the rebound and gentrification of the five boroughs, and the ecological issues facing the next generation of New Yorkers. More than 300 illustrations are integrated throughout the text, depicting housing plans, neighborhood changes, and city architecture over the past 130 years. This new edition also features a foreword by the distinguished urban historian Kenneth T. Jackson.

Since its emergence in the mid-nineteenth century as the nation's "metropolis," New York has faced the most challenging housing problems of any American city, but it has also led the nation in innovation and reform. The horrors of the tenement were perfected in New York at the same time that the very rich were building palaces along Fifth Avenue; public housing for the poor originated in New York, as did government subsidies for middle-class housing. A standard in the field since its publication in 1992, A History of Housing in New York City traces New York's housing development from 1850 to the present in text and profuse illustrations. Richard Plunz explores the housing of all classes, with comparative discussion of the development of types ranging from the single-family house to the high-rise apartment tower. His analysis is placed within the context of the broader political and cultural development of New York City. This revised edition extends the scope of the book into the city's recent history, adding three decades to the study, covering the recent housing bubble crisis, the rebound and gentrification of the five boroughs, and the ecological issues facing the next generation of New Yorkers. More than 300 illustrations are integrated throughout the text, depicting housing plans, neighborhood changes, and city architecture over the past 130 years. This new edition also features a foreword by the distinguished urban historian Kenneth T. Jackson.

This series of stories explains how the foothills evolved from a wilderness inhabited only by wandering Native Americans to the present prosperous area of dairy farms, busy villages, and excellent schools.