Review by Choice Review
Whitehand's short book is a selective review of ongoing change in the physical form of cities. Most of his attention is devoted to the British city, particularly urban areas in which he has performed previous research, but there are occasional glimpses at, and comparisons with, recent urban development trends in Australia and portions of Western Europe. A dominant theme is the cyclical pattern of the development and redevelopment processes, which are studied by focusing on the interplay among morphological innovation, construction activity, and intraurban accessibility relationships. These notions are generalized into a "theoretical" framework which is then selectively but unrigorously tested on urban residential and commercial areas with which Whitehand is familiar. The book's advantages are its nontechnical approach, crisp presentation, high-quality illustrations, and useful reference materials about a complex international and multidisciplinary literature. The work's less attractive features are its exorbitant price, its minimal contributions to urban-geographic theory, and its focus on case studies outside North America. Graduate collections. -P. O. Muller, University of Miami
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
