The Chosen City [Hardcover]

There is endless talk about the need for an urban renaissance; can it happen in the real world? In this broad, challenging and highly engaging book, Nicholas Schoon argues that the foremost priority for regeneration is to make neighbourhoods and cities places where people with choices choose to live.
The author surveys the last two centuries of metropolitan growth and decay, analyzes the successes and failures of recent changes in urban policy and proposes a wide range of radical measures to make the renaissance a reality. Comprehensively researched, The Chosen Cityis a wake up call for everyone interested and involved in urban regeneration - degree students and academics, planning and housing professionals, architects, surveyors, developers and politicians. The text is illustrated with powerful black and white images from a leading national newspaper photographer.1. The Abandoned City. 2. Darkshire and Coketown - the Approach to 1900. 3. Enter the State - 1900 to 1951. 4. Overspill and High Rise - 1951 to 1976. 5. Things Can Only Get Better - 1976 to 2000. 6. Ten Opportunities. 7. Pushes and Pulls. 8. The Milton Keynes Effect. 9. How to Mingle. 10. Education, Education, Regeneration. 11. The Frightened City. 12. Mixed Uses and High Densities, or MUHD. 13. The Ideal Home. 14. Erosion of Cities or Attrition of Cars. 15. Town and Country. 16. New New Towns. 17. Renaissance or Stillbirth?