Cities
Published 1963, Signed
By Lawrence Halprin
Reinhold Publishing Corporation

About the Piece

[from the book jacket] "This refreshing book considers the potential of cities. The city is a living place and a working place for men in great numbers. It is a man-created environment for man. Potentially, says Mr. Halprin, the city is man's greatest work of art. What are man's environmental needs? Some are ecological, says Mr. Halprin - open space, air and light. Come are psychological, emotional, social. Cities is a sophisticated investigation of these environmental needs of man. In the investigation, the author observes cities through different spectacles - as an urban planner, as an architect, as a landscaper, as an artist, as a political man, as a social scientist, as a humanist. In a time when words such as "death" and "outrage" are used to appraise recent actions in our cities, Lawrence Halprin's words and ideas come as a shock. Here is a sanguinary man. He is not ready to throw in the towel. Mr. Halprin believes that cities always have provided, and will continue to provide, a creative environment in his own perceptive words and pictures. He sees any city in terms of its life, its changes. He sees a city as a continuum, a sequence of events. He also speaks of the choreography of the city. Cities, by Lawrence Halprin, is a dance of life."

About the Writer

Lawrence Halprin (1916-2009) was a landscape architect, designer, and teacher who began his career in 1949 in san Francisco, where he collaborated with Modernist architects on a number of projects in the Bay Area. His work gained national attention in the 1962 World's Fair, the adaptive reuse of the historic Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco, and the Nicolett Mall in Minneapolis. His career proved influential to a generation of landscape architects who emulated his practice of public involvement in the design process and his wholistic approach to creating spaces for people to live and enjoy. From 1962 to 2006 he created many major civic spaces throughout the United States and Israel. He considered the FDR Memorial in Washington, D.C., his most significant accomplishment.