The City Shaped: Urban Patterns and Meanings Through History

About the Author

Spiro Kostof (1936-1991) was a professor of Architectural History at the University of California at Berkley, and also taught at M.I.T., and at Yale, Columbia, and Rice universities. His many books include The Architect: Chapters in The History of the Profession (1977) and A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals (1985), now a standard text. He edited America by Design (1987), the companion to a five-part television series that he presented. Kostof also published The City Shaped with Bulfinch Press in 1991.

About the Book 

Spanning the ages and the globe, Spiro Kostof explores the city as a “repository of cultural meaning” and an embodiment of the community it shelters. Widely used by both architects and students of architecture, The City Shaped won the AIA’s prestigious book award in Architecture and Urbanism. With hundreds of photographs and drawings that illustrate Professor Kostof’s innovative ideas, this has become one of the most important works on urbanization.