Cities in Civilisation [Hardcover]

Two other books that this one could be (should be, has been) compared with are THE CULTURE OF CITIES and THE CITY IN HISTORY, both by Lewis Mumford. Hall knows this and quickly dispatches the comparisons. "I do not at all share the Mumfordian view that the great city is doomed." Fair enough but his work remains valuable to urban historians and Hall's comment that "Mumford was fundamentally a brilliant polemical journalist, not a scholar" is uncalled for and irrelevant. I'm glad Hall got his academic tetchiness out of the way early and didn't bring it up again, because being subjected to such jibes and digs over the course of the 1000 pages of this book would have been unpleasant. And Hall doesn't need to resort to that anyway.

This book is a detailed, well researched exploration of the unique nature of the city as "a crucible of creativity". The first section of the book looks at artistic creativity - the most recognizable type of Golden Age and most closely associated with the foundation cities of Western civilization - Athens, Vienna, Florence, Paris, London and Berlin. Other themes are innovation and its technological and economic manifestation in urban settings. Here we visit Manchester, Glasgow, Detroit, San Francisco (more accurately Palo Alto and "Silicon Valley") and Tokyo. Hall then looks at two cities - Memphis and Los Angeles that he says offer a mix of artistic, technological, and economic exuberance. He is referring to the music and film industries. In his final section he acknowledges the emergence of regional urban areas and global cities and while recognizing the challenges they pose, he is not daunted and remains optimistic about the future of urban life. His coming Golden Age of a new urban order faces three challenges. That of transport technology and sustainable urbanism, an unequal urban world (the megacities of the Third World) and the threats to economic, family, and civic life.

If persons with interest in any aspect of urbanism don't find some mention of their pet subject in this vast sweep of urban life over the last two millennia, it's simply because they haven't waded through. And that's the only caveat about Hall's work. In the best traditions of old English learning this book is dense and it's not written in the snappiest of prose either. Cities are a testament to the slow processes of humanity. You'll have to rely on one of those tendencies - patience - when working your way through this book. In the end it's well worth it.

Hall is especially good, in the midst of his analysis, at discussing various theories of social change from Marx to Schumpeter, and Weber to Harold Innis. He details the reasons for industrial and technological growth and invention in 18th century Manchester, 19th century Glasgow, and 19th and 20th century Berlin. His discussion of Detroit and Henry Ford is particularly interesting. Silicon Valley and Tokyo are also discussed, and never does Hall loses sight of how their creativity permanently affected human civilization.

His section on "The Marriage of Art and Technology" is fundamental to an understanding of mass culture in the 20th and 21st centuries. Hollywood and "The Delta" region around Memphis are discussed for their impact on movies and popular music. These two sections are utterly fascinating. And his lengthy last section, which some readers may find the least interesting, deals with how many of the world's great cities have adapted to deal with increasing size and changing needs. Here Hall profiles the changes in the cities themselves, as well as changes in the cultural and social environment, of ancient Rome, and modern London, Paris, New York, Los Angelas, and Stockholm. The social experimentation in equality and how it affected housing in Sweden is particularly interesting.

All in all, if you have the stamina to read 1,000 pages you will be served a wonderful course on the development of Western culture and material civilization, as well as gain a fuller appreciation for the role of the great city in history. We are all in Sir Peter's debt for his years of study and the preparation of this book. His erudition and immense learning are greatly appreciated.