{"product_id":"the-largest-art-brent-d-ryan-9780262036672","title":"The Largest Art: A Measured Manifesto for a Plural Urbanism","description":"\u003cb\u003eWhy urban design is larger than architecture: the foundational qualities of urban design, examples and practitioners\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eUrban design in practice is incremental, but architects imagine it as scaled-up architecture--large, ready-to-build pop-up cities. This paradox of urban design is rarely addressed; indeed, urban design as a discipline lacks a theoretical foundation. In \u003ci\u003eThe Largest Art\u003c\/i\u003e, Brent Ryan argues that urban design encompasses more than architecture, and he provides a foundational theory of urban design beyond the architectural scale. In a \"declaration of independence\" for urban design, Ryan describes urban design as the largest of the building arts, with qualities of its own.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRyan distinguishes urban design from its sister arts by its pluralism: plural scale, ranging from an alleyway to a region; plural time, because it is deeply enmeshed in both history and the present; plural property, with many owners; plural agents, with many makers; and plural form, with a distributed quality that allows it to coexist with diverse elements of the city. Ryan looks at three well-known urban design projects through the lens of pluralism: a Brancusi sculptural ensemble in Romania, a Bronx housing project, and a formally and spatially diverse grouping of projects in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He revisits the thought of three plural urbanists working between 1960 and 1980: David Crane, Edmund Bacon, and Kevin Lynch. And he tells three design stories for the future, imaginary scenarios of plural urbanism in locations around the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRyan concludes his manifesto with three signal considerations urban designers must acknowledge: eternal change, inevitable incompletion, and flexible fidelity. Cities are ceaselessly active, perpetually changing. It is the urban designer's task to make art with aesthetic qualities that can survive perpetual change.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Brent D. Ryan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0262036673\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780262036672\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e MIT Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/27\/2017\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 384\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 2.90lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.20h x 8.40w x 1.10d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 06\/01\/2018","brand":"Brent D. Ryan","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":43981523255551,"sku":"9780262036672","price":44.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_8788ff60-9e4f-4e25-9444-6171a637d8c8.jpg?v=1683256082","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-largest-art-brent-d-ryan-9780262036672","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}