Integral Urbanism Book

Integral Urbanism is an ambitious and forward-looking theory of urbanism intended for planners and architects looking for new models to improve the quality of urban life. The model that Ellin proposes stands as an antidote to the problems engendered by modern and postmodern urban planning and architecture: sprawl, anomie, a pervasive culture (and architecture) of fear in cities, and a disregard for environmental issues. Moving away from the escapist and reactive tendencies of modern and postmodern planning, Ellin champions an "integral" approach, arguing that we should work towards the re-integration of urban milieus that planners and architects typically conceive of as being separate from each other. Hers is a fundamentally ecological approach, looking at places as parts of larger settings and environments. In designing cities, planners and architects need to consider what surrounds the site in order to see that the barriers between spaces are, in reality, porous. Then we can re-conceptualize how we design urban space, integrating seemingly incongruous small sites as well as larger regions.Read More