Close-Up: How to Read the American City

by Grady Clay

Book Overview

"Grady Clay looks hard at the landscape, finding out who built what and why, noticing who participates in a city's success and who gets left in a 'sink, ' or depressed (often literally) area. Clay doesn't stay in the city; he looks at industrial towns, truck stops, suburbs--nearly anywhere people live or work. His style is witty and readable, and the book is crammed with illustrations that clarify his points. If I had to pick up one book to guide...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226109453
• ISBN13: 9780226109459
• Release Date: April 1980
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.7" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

An Accessible Guide to Thinking About Cities

Close-Up is a fun and friendly guide to thinking about American cities generically. With it you can begin to understand why cities look the way they do, why they are organized the way they, and ewhy they change the way they change. I have used this book teaching urban theory to both undergraduates and graduate students, and they have found it eye-opening; it made them see their city in a whole new way. The drawings are fun and informative. Though this book was written in 1973, which makes some of its examples dated, the insights it gives into urban form are not dated at all, and should be useful well into the 21st century.