GEOG 3373: Changing Form of the City

Cities frozen in time: a snapshot of urban life, circa 1600 History's most opulent collection of town maps and illustrations The complete reprint of all 363 color plates from Braun and Hogenberg's survey of town maps, city views, and plans of Europe, Africa, Asia and Central America, with dozens of unusual details, two folding maps, as well as selected extracts from the original text and an in-depth commentary. First published in Cologne 1572-1617.

Condensing centuries of history into one volume, Cities of the World traces the historic form and special character of the world's greatest cities through a breathtaking collection of maps and panoramic views. Peter Whitfield focuses on more than sixty cities--from Athens to Brasilia, Washington to Moscow, San Francisco to Saigon, and Venice to Lhasa. He presents an extremely wide range of maps, historic prints, and photographs from many periods that show how the architectural form and the social life of our cities have been shaped--not only by their geographical setting, but also by religion, royal power, commerce, social ideals, and occasionally artistic vision. These images illustrate the historic heart of the cities: the ancient harbors, the hilltop fortresses, the encircling walls, and the houses, churches, and palaces that have been added over the centuries. For the armchair traveler or anyone passionate about the history of human civilization, this beautiful, unique book captures the richness of the urban fabric and reflects the collective memory of each metropolis. Cities of the World demonstrates how the city was linked to the birth and progress of civilization itself, how it has acted as a focus for ideas and technologies, arts and sciences, and even religious devotion. It shows the ways that some cities grew slowly into haphazard, unplanned beauties, while others were shaped by the will of masterful individuals. Whitfield chose the cities featured here not only because they are richly and beautifully illustrated, but also because they demonstrate a notion of spirit--an outward and inward uniqueness. Many of these historic maps have a pictorial quality that vanished long ago from the functional town-plan. Depicting the classical city-state, the medieval fortress, the baroque capital, and the industrial metropolis, the sumptuous illustrations in this book chronicle how simple outlines found on Babylonian clay tablets evolved into the stylized pictures of medieval times and spectacular bird's-eye panoramic views, finally culminating in the highly functional mass-produced maps of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Wonderfully evocative of the places they depict and the artistic tastes of their time, these maps shed new light on civilization itself, with all of its contradictions, shortcomings, energy, and aspirations. Copub: British Library

Journey back in time and take a walk through the historic streets of the world's greatest cities. Great City Maps is the companion title to DK's Great Maps and takes a focused look at over 70 gorgeously illustrated historical maps and plans of cities around the globe. Dive into the details of each beautiful map and learn about interesting features with visual tours of the maps' highlights - such as the Old London Bridge of London in 1572 and the orchards of Brooklyn in 1767 New York. Cities are centers of civilization and the way their maps portray them reflects their politics, religion, and culture. See how certain cities, and cartographic techniques, changed over time. More than just a bird's-eye view, this irresistible book tells the tales behind the cities from the hubs of ancient peoples to modern mega-cities, and profiles the iconic cartographers and artists who created each map.  Perfect for history, geography, and cartography enthusiasts and a stunning gift for armchair explorers of all ages, Great City Maps is your window into the world's most fascinating cities.

The map-plans in this collection of forty cities in Europe, Russia, the United States, and Asia were first published in the mid- nineteenth century by England's Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. These maps were all commissioned and drawn within a period of thirteen years, presenting a unique opportunity to compare urban development among 40 cities in 19 countries at one moment in time. An exquisite feast for the eye, the hand-colored, hand-lettered steel engravings are artistic masterpieces in themselves, representative of an era of exceptional artisanal skill. They are reproduced here in fine detail in an oversized format. The Atlas of Rare City Maps includes both well-known European and American cities such as Amsterdam, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, and Venice, as well as smaller cities like Calcutta, Edinburgh, Hamburg, Lisbon, Marseille, Parma, and Stockholm. An introductory essay by Melville C. Branch discusses the historical evolution of urban design, and provides a background on engraving techniques. Branch also evaluates each map-plan, remarking on the details of each engraving and the evolution of the forms of the cities, their histories, and demographic characteristics. This rare collection first appeared in its modern form twenty years ago in a limited edition (Arno Press); long out of print, this book has been much sought after by architects, urban planners, and map enthusiasts everywhere. Princeton Architectural Press is proud to make available once again this valuable resource.

With over 170,000 entries, the Columbia Gazetteer of the World is an authoritative A to Z encyclopedia of geographical places and features. Whether you're looking for the ten highest mountain peaks in North America, the major commercial crops in Brazil's economy, all the rivers in Southeast Asia, the former name of the city of Yangon, or the natural resources available in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Gazetteer is the one-stop resource for all your information needs. First published in 1998, the Gazetteer now features new entries and extensive revisions to reflect recent administrative divisions in countries around the world. It also contains new maps, population figures, and an expanded glossary of geographical and geological terms. With its long history of accuracy and authority, there is no other encyclopedia like Gazetteer. The Columbia Gazetteer covers: * The political world-countries, provinces, regions, states, counties, capitals, cities, towns, villages, and neighborhoods. * The physical world-continents, oceans, seas, lakes, lagoons, rivers, bays, inlets, channels, and streams, along with islands, archipelagos, peninsulas, atolls, mountains, mountain ranges, canyons, deserts, valleys, and volcanoes. * And special places-national parks and monuments, historic and archaeological sites, harbors, ports, airports, nuclear plants, canals, and destinations of interest.