American Planner: Biographies and Recollections / Edition 2

by Donald A. Krueckeberg

Overview

This is a book about the giants of American planning - the urban and regional planners who shaped the American landscape over the last century. In sensitive, compelling essays, the contributors explore the myths and virtues of the planning profession in human terms - the frustrations, hopes, anger, pride, fears, dreams, and foolishness of the leading practitioners of the field.Donald A. Krueckeberg's unique compilation of biographies shows how planners were molded by the conflicting demands of self and culture - and how that fusion was reflected in their actions and impacts on American society. Catherine Bauer, Alfred Bettman, Daniel Burnham, Kevin Lynch, Benton MacKaye, Lewis Mumford, Frederick Law Olmsted, Rexford Tugwell - and a host of other visionaries - come to life on the pages of this work.Why should we read these stories? "In the sharing of these secrets," Krueckeberg writes, "planners form a culture, a community of ideas and contentions that define and redefine our salvation in our practices." The book realizes the hope of all good biography: it shows how particular planners acquired their personalities from the demands of self and culture and how that fusion was reflected in their actions and their impacts on American society. This is essential reading for every planner, from student to hardened veteran.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900882851487
Publisher:	Transaction Publishers
Publication date:	11/30/1994
Edition description:	2nd ed
Pages:	549
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

About the Author

Donald A. Krueckeberg was associate dean for Master’s and professional programs at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University. His work appeared in Housing Policy Debate, Planning Education and Research, and Journal of Planning Education and Research. In addition, he is the author of The American Planner: Biographies and Recollections and Local Population and Employment Projection Techniques.

Editorial Reviews

Geographers have long recognized that comprehension of the discipline and its current themes is enhanced by knowledge of past trends in geographic thought and, concurrently, an analysis of historic leaders in the field and their influence. In a parallel sense, through biographical sketches of prominent American planners, embellished with an overview of both their times and urban trends, Krueckeberg’s book provides a perceptive account of how planning achieved its mid-twentieth century stance… [A]n implicit value of Krueckeberg’s biographies is the material provided for inferences on future directions, successes and disappointments in American planning and, consequently, American urban areas.” —Robert D. Swartz, The Professional Geographer “As a contribution to planning history, then, the book can be taken at two levels. At one level, it provides the aficionado with plenty of interesting detail… At a more analytical level, setting individual experiences and actions in context… it provides a record of some of the causes and consequences of the world-views that have contributed to professional planning in the United States.” —Paul Knox, Annals of the Association of American Geographers “In The American Planner… Donald Krueckeberg of Rutgers University has brought together a disjointed but oddly engrossing collection of biographical sketches about U.S. planning luminaries… The American Planner, he writes, is “about people whose heads were filled with theories and whose hearts were filled with aspirations.” The selections can easily be read separately.” —Harold Henderson, Planning “Since its first publication in 1983, The American Planner has been a classroom standby that uses the careers and accomplishments of individual planners to introduce the main themes of city planning history in the United States… The choices broaden the scope of “American planning” chronologically and conceptually, deemphasizing details of professional practice during the early twentieth century and expanding attention to ideas about the characteristics of good community. The essays emphasize intellectual uncertainties and struggles as well as firm prescriptions for city-building.” —Carl Abbott, Journal of the American Planning Association "Abound[s] with detail . . . puts a personal touch to the entire panorama of U.S. planning history." —M. Hebbert, Town Planning Review

From the Publisher