Lewis Mumford

For centuries, ideas that open up possibilities and enable men to become free of what constraints may befall them. One such idea that perhaps more than many is the idea of Utopia, Lewis Mumford in his book The Story of Utopias describes as such. Mumford was a historian, critic, sociologist and philosopher in his own right. His works ranged from urban architecture to urban planning, and to the study of the human condition. In The Story Mumford analyses a range of topics relating to the idea of Utopia, he achieves this by discussing Utopias such as Plato’s Republic, Fourier’s Phalanxes, H.G Well’s fictitious Utopia, and Sir Thomas More’s Utopia. Mumford then further surveys the Utopias presented and explains how these Utopias arose and for what reason. Mumford explains that the Utopia of Sir Thomas More and others originates from two main points. Firstly, the possibilities of the open sea provided a great movement of new romantic ideals about what lay out there, and the need to go find what these possibilities are. Perhaps more influential however was the breakdown of the town economy. The town economy of the Middle Ages was a development of the self-sufficing household economy. The town economy was also important “for different trades grew up within the town and the right to trade within the town and in the…

Lewis Mumford Although Lewis Mumford is not mentioned in this week’s reading assignment, his understanding of city design and the conflict which might arise when poor planning is engaged shines through in various sections in the text. Through most of Mumford’s writings, his criticism towards modern man’s lifestyle is evident. From the transformation of the use of money as a commodity, the ever growing advancements in technology, to his thoughts on how new cities were growing out of control.”…

In Becky Nicolaides’ chapter titled, “How Hell Moved from the City to the Suburbs”, she gently and respectively rejects the perception of suburbia that most of American’s hold in their minds today. Inside this book, “The New Suburban History”, Nicolaides explains why the great urban scholars and writers of the 1950’s and 1960’s painted the wrong picture of the “hell” suburbia was and is seen today. Her opinion may be difficult to undercover in the beginning of her piece due to her mostly…

The definition of a city may seem like it would be simple and to the point. The work of several demographers, archaeologists, and philosophers proves that the understanding of a city requires a thorough analysis. E.B. White, Kingsley Davis, Gordon Childe, Lewis Mumford, Kenneth Jackson and Robert Bruegman have their own understandings of what a city is. White has a thought-provoking idea of a city, especially in the way he describes his visit to New York City. He feels that New York is not…

Although a region may perceive their roots to be unwavering, powerful acts can crack even the most established ideals. From the suffragette who stepped on the tracks of a horse race for women’s rights, to the man who suffered a bullet wound fighting for civil rights, to the student protestors who risked the unknown for the chance at a better future, powerful and sacrificial acts have drastically altered the regions in which we live. These tactics may seem unconventional, but according to author…

While the industrial city relies on autonomy and a new sense of independence, the medieval city is heavily community based. Medieval homes are a community in the sense that a household not only contained a nuclear family, but apprentices, craftsmen, and domestics as well, that operate as a family unit. Lewis Mumford illustrates the function of a medieval household through this quote “The members ate together at the same table, worked in the same rooms, slept in the same or common hall, converted…

Harland Bartholomew name might be not as widely known as Ebenezer Howard, Jane Jacobs, or Robert Moses, but it can be argued that he is just as important to how city planners are impacted today through his theories and methods. Bartholomew was a city planner that lived from 1889 to 1989 (Lovelace, 1993). He was one of the original municipal planners and has influenced city planning profession from 1914 to present day. Bartholomew’s influence and notability in city planning has three distinct…

In the readings by Schorske and Berman, the motifs behind the concept of the modern city and the rise of industrialization are focalized/elaborated upon. In particularly, Schorske presents his explication by revolving around three central themes: the city as a means of virtue in the Enlightenment, the city as a means of vice as industrialization rose, and the city as a means of the good and the bad, developed through the likes of an expanding intellectual attitude. Berman, on the other hand,…

Harland Bartholomew is one of the original municipal planners that influenced the city planning profession from 1914 to present day. Bartholomew’s influence and notability in city planning has three distinct areas (Lovelace, 1993). These three areas include the education of planning professionals, civil service at both the city and national level, and his private practice and advancement of a systematic comprehensive plan (Lovelace, 1993). These three areas tell a story of an individual that had…

Bloomington is a town, which is full of different kinds of nonprofit organizations, and there are always events that held by those organizations going on daily. It is hard to catch every single event, but because of the large variety of nonprofit organizations, people who live here can have lots of choices to participate into them and experience the voluntarism and altruism at the same time. According to Indiana.edu, there are approximately 1,082 nonprofit organizations at Bloomington (Indiana…