The Autumn Of Central Paris: The Defeat Of Town Planning 1850-1970
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Condition: Good. Jacket: Worn/faded - no tears. Page Condition: Good. Markings: No markings. Usual shelf-wear. Fold-out map at rear intact.
In the grand boulevards and cramped arrondissements of Paris lies a century-long battle between visionary ambition and the inertia of history — The Autumn of Central Paris chronicles the dramatic failure of successive attempts to impose rational urban order upon one of the world's most complex and storied cities. Anthony Sutcliffe examines the period from Baron Haussmann's sweeping mid-nineteenth-century transformations through to 1970, tracing how political will, economic pressures, and deeply entrenched social forces repeatedly conspired to defeat comprehensive town planning in the French capital. Sutcliffe argues with scholarly precision that the story of Paris is not one of triumphant modernisation, but of entropy — a gradual decline of central authority over the urban fabric that left the historic core in a state of contested, unresolved tension. Part of the distinguished Studies in Urban History series, this work illustrates how the physical city becomes an arena for ideological struggle, and presents a compelling case that the fate of central Paris offers a cautionary tale for urban planners worldwide. For anyone who has ever wondered why Paris looks the way it does, the answer lies within these pages — and it is far more turbulent than the postcard image suggests.
Author: Anthony Sutcliffe
Format: Hardback
Published: 1970, Edward Arnold
Genre: European history
Condition remarks:
Condition: Good. Jacket: Worn/faded - no tears. Page Condition: Good. Markings: No markings. Usual shelf-wear. Fold-out map at rear intact.
In the grand boulevards and cramped arrondissements of Paris lies a century-long battle between visionary ambition and the inertia of history — The Autumn of Central Paris chronicles the dramatic failure of successive attempts to impose rational urban order upon one of the world's most complex and storied cities. Anthony Sutcliffe examines the period from Baron Haussmann's sweeping mid-nineteenth-century transformations through to 1970, tracing how political will, economic pressures, and deeply entrenched social forces repeatedly conspired to defeat comprehensive town planning in the French capital. Sutcliffe argues with scholarly precision that the story of Paris is not one of triumphant modernisation, but of entropy — a gradual decline of central authority over the urban fabric that left the historic core in a state of contested, unresolved tension. Part of the distinguished Studies in Urban History series, this work illustrates how the physical city becomes an arena for ideological struggle, and presents a compelling case that the fate of central Paris offers a cautionary tale for urban planners worldwide. For anyone who has ever wondered why Paris looks the way it does, the answer lies within these pages — and it is far more turbulent than the postcard image suggests.