The Cultures of Cities

by Sharon Zukin

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Product Description
Combining cultural critique, interviews, autobiography and ethnography, The Culture of Cities is a compelling account of the public spaces of modernity as they are transformed into new, more troubling landscapes.

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When Lewis Mumford wrote his now-classic The Culture of Cities in 1934, it could safely be assumed that "culture" was an epiphenomenon that sprung organically from the activities of the people of a city. Zurkin builds upon Mumford's arguments for a late 20th-century reinterpretation, discussing the ways in which cities' cultures are increasingly the product of complex negotiations between ethnic groups, artistic and architectural elites, and multinational purveyors of canned culture. Her chapters dealing with the effects of Disneyland on urban planning, the creation of a "cultural center" in the rural Berkshires, and the nature of shopping in urban settings are particularly intriguing. Her primary concern is how economic elites gain the upper hand in representation as the culture of a city: in her view, culture is, increasingly, a consciously synthesized mirage optimized for economic gain. Recommended.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3 out of 5 stars

interesting, but too little variety, 2005-01-24
I liked that this book was easy to read and largely free of jargon and academic talk. There was a lot of topics covered from urban paranoia to consumer behavior, but most of these topics dealt with New York as their sole example. True there were chapters on Disney and Berkshires, but I would have liked to see more variety of locales as most cities have different "shared cultures" than New York and it would be nice to see some of these differences reflected in her book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4 out of 5 stars

Interesting study on the role of culture in modern cities, 2004-02-07
At first the book was hard to get through because of all the theory in the first chapter. After that the seperate chapters were very interesting to read.

Some of the topics are North Adams and the museum, Bryant Park in New York, Disneyland (always fascinating for people interested in urban studies), Brooklyn.

Her chapter on immigrants and restaurants is fascinating, she shows that many restaurants are run by people not from that culture (A Spaniard running a Brazilian restaurant) and that many people who aspire to be artists work in these restaurants.

For people living in New York or Brooklyn this book is a must.

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