You would be hard-pressed to find an architect or urban planner who doesn’t have at least a handful of these titles resting proudly on their bookshelf. After all, when it comes to classic tomes, who wouldn’t prefer the real thing to an online version of itself? Still, it’s great to know that if you don’t have every must-read architecture/design/urban theory book around, you can find some of these literary gems online for free.
As a master program dealing with sustainable urban development, a fundamental knowledge of urban theory and a deep understanding of how cities function is essential to working thoughtfully in both developed and developing contexts. We scanned the internet to find what are some the most influential books on cities (with a focus on sustainability, equity and public space) available online for free, many of which figure in our curriculum’s extensive reading list put together by our faculty members.
1. A Ladder of Citizen Participation (1969) by Sherry R Arnstein
2. A Pattern Language (1977) by Christopher Alexander, et al.
3. Architecture without Architects (1964) by Bernard Rudosfky
4. Atlas of the Conflict (2012) by Malkit Shoshan
– The Israeli architect maps the processes and mechanisms behind the shaping of Israel-Palestine over the past 100 years.
5. Collage City (1978) by Colin Rowe and Fred Koetter
6. Constant’s New Babylon: The Hyper-Architecture of Desire (1999) by Mark Wigley
7. Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change (1972) by Victor Papanek
8. Housing by People: Towards Autonomy in Building Environments (1976) by John F. C. Turner
9. If You Lived Here: The City in Art, Theory and Social Activism (1991) by Martha Rosler
10. Social Justice and the City (1973) by David Harvey
Read more: http://masteremergencyarchitecture.com/2016/09/19/21-free-landmark-books-about-cities-every-architect-should-read/?utm_medium=social