While cities and societies rose, fell, and were found to exist on the other side of the world, the masters of Northern Renaissance art grew in their appreciation of nature in the midst of civil and re
Historians have long argued about the place of trade in classical antiquity: was it the life-blood of a complex, Mediterranean-wide economic system, or a thin veneer on the surface of an underdeveloped agrarian society? Trade underpinned the growth of Athenian and Roman power, helping to supply armies and cities. It furnished the goods that ancient elites needed to maintain their dominance - and yet, those same elites generally regarded trade and traders as a threat to social order. Trade, like the patterns of consumption that determined its development, was implicated in wider debates about politics, morality and the state of society, just as the expansion of trade in the modern world is presented both as the answer to global poverty and as an instrument of exploitation and cultural imperialism. This 2007 book explores the nature and importance of ancient trade, considering its ecological and cultural significance as well as its economic aspects.
Deciphering the City deals with the large and small issues facing cities today. A focus on globalization's impact on the role of cities, an explicit mission to drive home the applied nature of urban s
Waterfront regeneration and development represents a unique opportunity to spatially and visually alter cities worldwide. However, its multi-faceted nature entails city-building with all its complexit
This beautiful book of narrative non-fiction looks at the urban forest and dives into the question of how we can live in harmony with city trees.“Imagine a city draped in a blanket of green … Is this the city you know?”This beautiful book of narrative non-fiction looks at the urban forest, starting witha bird’s-eye view of the tree canopy, then swooping down to street level, digging deep into the ground, then moving up through a tree’s trunk, back into the leaves and branches.It discusses the problems that city trees face such as the abundance of concrete, poor soil and challenging light conditions. It traces the history of trees in cities over time, showing how industrialization and the growth of populations in urban centers led to the creation of places like Central Park in New York City, where people could enjoy nature and clean air. It wasn’t until Dutch Elm disease swept across North America, killing hundreds of thousands of trees, that people realized how important trees are to o
For fans of Neil Gaiman and Welcome to Night Vale, Aaron Mahnke's The World of Lore (based on the popular LORE podcast) explores the chilling truth behind the legendary creatures, peculiar people and horrific places that arouse our deepest fears. For you see, sometimes the truth is more frightening than fiction... Volume 3: Dreadful PlacesHumans have an uncanny ability to leave their indelible mark.Homes can sometimes reflect the characteristics of their occupants and even cities become more and more like living beings after a century or two. So, it's logical to assume that darker deeds, horrible tragedies, and the worst of human nature all might leave a nefarious taint on some of these places. This third book in The World of Lore series will explore dark and dreadful places on land and at sea, places haunted by tragedy and filled with echo es of evil.These are the stories about cities, and buildings, too, from New Orleans to Louisiana and Richmond, Virginia, as well as infamous places
Speaking Memory evokes the complex "language-scapes" that form at the crossroads of culture and history in cities. While engaging with current debates on the nature and role of translation in globaliz
The definitive monograph on the Spanish master of lightContaining over 300 reproductions of his most important works, Joaquin Sorolla is an essential survey on this ever-popular painter. It includes an in-depth essay by Blanca Pons-Sorolla, as well as an illustrated chronology. Starting out as a painter of works intended for the salon and national exhibitions, Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida (1863-1923) very soon developed a style of open-air painting of his own which, though not connected stylistically with the Barbizon School, nevertheless pursued the same approach, as a result of which he came to be known as a Spanish impressionist painter.He began to devote himself entirely to this style in 1900, painting landscapes, views of cities, studies of nature, seascapes and garden scenes in which he demonstrated his tremendous skill in capturing the effects of light. One such painting reproduced here, Sewing the Sail, exemplifies Sorolla's skill with light in the abstract. A pure white sail capt
Bruges was undoubtedly one of the most important cities in medieval Europe. Bringing together specialists from both archaeology and history, this 'total' history presents an integrated view of the city's history from its very beginnings, tracing its astonishing expansion through to its subsequent decline in the sixteenth century. The authors' analysis of its commercial growth, industrial production, socio-political changes, and cultural creativity is grounded in an understanding of the city's structure, its landscape and its built environment. More than just a biography of a city, this book places Bruges within a wider network of urban and rural development and its history in a comparative framework, thereby offering new insights into the nature of a metropolis.
