The Rhetoric of Fiction

"This beautifully illustrated book, written by an outstanding architect-planner and illustrated by an eminent photographer, demonstrates for laymen and professionals how our cities and open spaces can be made comfortable, beautiful and profitable. With the aid of aerial photographs - 16 in color - as well as maps and renderings of exciting new projects, the author argues that high-density core cities are the desirable and inevitable solution to our social problems. One of the founding partners of the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Mr. Owings points out the aesthetic lessons to be learned from our history and geography. Our compulsive mobility and swift industrialization, in combination with the grandeur of our land forms, have produced a uniquely American design viewpoint upon which to base our new buildings and our revitalized cities. Although we have generally allowed our railroads, highways and industries to ravage our environment, dramatic improvements are being made in cities such as Baltimore, Washington, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Philadelphia. In describing these projects, the nature of great architecture and the kind of talent in government, business and education needed for the task, Mr. Owings shows how our environment can be saved and the American aesthetic realized"--Dust jacket.