Background
Bruegmann, Robert was born on May 21, 1948 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Son of Karl A. and Margaret (Cartwright) Bruegmann.
( As anyone who has flown into Los Angeles at dusk or Hou...)
As anyone who has flown into Los Angeles at dusk or Houston at midday knows, urban areas today defy traditional notions of what a city is. Our old definitions of urban, suburban, and rural fail to capture the complexity of these vast regions with their superhighways, subdivisions, industrial areas, office parks, and resort areas pushing far out into the countryside. Detractors call it sprawl and assert that it is economically inefficient, socially inequitable, environmentally irresponsible, and aesthetically ugly. Robert Bruegmann calls it a logical consequence of economic growth and the democratization of society, with benefits that urban planners have failed to recognize. In his incisive history of the expanded city, Bruegmann overturns every assumption we have about sprawl. Taking a long view of urban development, he demonstrates that sprawl is neither recent nor particularly American but as old as cities themselves, just as characteristic of ancient Rome and eighteenth-century Paris as it is of Atlanta or Los Angeles. Nor is sprawl the disaster claimed by many contemporary observers. Although sprawl, like any settlement pattern, has undoubtedly produced problems that must be addressed, it has also provided millions of people with the kinds of mobility, privacy, and choice that were once the exclusive prerogatives of the rich and powerful. The first major book to strip urban sprawl of its pejorative connotations, Sprawl offers a completely new vision of the city and its growth. Bruegmann leads readers to the powerful conclusion that "in its immense complexity and constant change, the city-whether dense and concentrated at its core, looser and more sprawling in suburbia, or in the vast tracts of exurban penumbra that extend dozens, even hundreds, of miles-is the grandest and most marvelous work of mankind." “Largely missing from this debate over sprawl has been a sound and reasoned history of this pattern of living. With Robert Bruegmann’s Sprawl: A Compact History, we now have one. What a pleasure it is: well-written, accessible and eager to challenge the current cant about sprawl.”—Joel Kotkin, The Wall Street Journal “There are scores of books offering ‘solutions’ to sprawl. Their authors would do well to read this book.”—Witold Rybczynski, Slate
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226076911/?tag=2022091-20
( Winner of the 1998 Spiro Kostof Book Award from the Soc...)
Winner of the 1998 Spiro Kostof Book Award from the Society of Architectural Historians. Chicago has always held a special fascination for those interested in architectural and urban history. For many, the defining moment occurred at the turn of the century when Chicago was booming and the world came to the city by the lake. But the story most often told in architectural history—the tale of single creative geniuses like Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan—does little to explain the birth of the everyday modern city, with its high-rise downtown, diverse neighborhoods, and sprawling suburbs. This book connects architectural history with urban history by looking at the work of a major architectural firm, Holabird & Roche. No firm in any large American city had a greater impact. With projects that ranged from tombstones to skyscrapers, boiler rooms to entire industrial complexes, Holabird & Roche left an indelible stamp on the city of Chicago and, indeed, far beyond. In this volume, the first of two on Holabird & Roche and its successor, Holabird & Root, Robert Bruegmann traces the firm’s history from its founding in 1880 to the end of the First World War. Incorporating meticulous research based on the extensive architectural holdings of the Chicago Historical Society, Bruegmann documents the firm’s work from the boom years of the 1880s through the period of sustained growth and innovation after the turn of the century. In chapters devoted to topics as diverse as downtown commercial and retail development, business hotels, civic buildings, automobile showrooms, and suburban clubs and housing, Bruegmann creates a sustained historical narrative that considers the profound interdependence of architecture and modern urban life.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226076954/?tag=2022091-20
educator architectural historian
Bruegmann, Robert was born on May 21, 1948 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Son of Karl A. and Margaret (Cartwright) Bruegmann.
Bachelor, Principia College, Elsah, Illinois, 1970; Doctor of Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania, 1976.
Historian History American buildings Survey, National Park Service, various locations, 1973-1978. Lecturer Philadelphia Community College, 1975-1976, Philadelphia College Art, 1976-1977. Assistant professor architectural history University Illinois, Chicago, 1977-1983, associate professor, 1983-1993, professor art history, architecture, urban planning, since 1993, chairman art history, 2001—2006.
( As anyone who has flown into Los Angeles at dusk or Hou...)
( Winner of the 1998 Spiro Kostof Book Award from the Soc...)
(Book by Bruegmann, Robert)
(Will be shipped from US. Brand new copy.)
(annotated edition)
Board directors Graham Foundation, Chicago, 1998—2004, since 2006. Member Society Architectural Historians, Chicago Architectural Foundation, Chicago Architectural Club (board directors 1989-1992).