Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Return to the Center: Culture, Public Space, and City Building in a Global Era (review)

2007; University of Texas Press; Volume: 6; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/lag.2007.0038

1548-5811

Brian J. Godfrey,

Cultural Industries and Urban Development

Reviewed by: Return to the Center: Culture, Public Space, and City Building in a Global Era Brian J. Godfrey Return to the Center: Culture, Public Space, and City Building in a Global Era, Lawrence A. Herzog , Austin, University of Texas Press, 2006. xxi and 273 pp., photos, maps, references, index. $55 hardcover (ISBN: 978-0-292-71261-4), $24.95 paperback (ISBN: 978-0-292-71262-1). Such novel topics as edge cities, new urbanism, and cyberspace often now overshadow studies of the built environment and public space. In Return to the Center, Lawrence Herzog attempts to shift urban discourse back to the historic city center by studying the "different forms of public space as they evolved in Spain and Mexico… and the policies that help them survive in two cultures that contrast sharply with that of the United States." (p. xv) His point of departure is a critique of fashionable postmodern approaches, such as the "LA School," for celebrating "inefficient, car-oriented, low-density, sprawling morphologies." (p. xv) Iberian and Latin American urban cores, Herzog argues, provide eminently more sustainable and desirable models of urban design, based on "historic preservation, pedestrian-scale urban design, socially cohesive communities, and sense of place." (p. x) Through a series of readable and amply illustrated case studies—primarily of Madrid, Barcelona, Mexico City, Querétaro, and Tijuana—he draws lessons on how to enhance urban life in the U.S. and elsewhere. Moving beyond his previous work on the U.S.-Mexico border, Herzog now turns to the evolution of public space in Spain and Mexico. This book ventures into informative if somewhat brief interpretations of design and experience in several historic centers, so as to demonstrate how these spaces have changed over time and what can be learned from their transformations. Herzog explores such issues as historic preservation, privatization of space, heritage tourism, and urban revitalization. Although he is critical of commodification and "museumization," Herzog takes an upbeat approach to the prospects of historic urban centers. Rather than rejecting heritage tourism as elitist, as critics often do, Herzog defends it for "injecting memory back into the urban landscape" (p. 83). He argues that urban tourism, as opposed to mass tourism, "…envisions a broader strategy of integrating more educated visitors in the everyday life and space of the city" (p. 104). Whether or not one agrees with his interpretations, the book's broad comparative framework promises to stimulate scholarly debate and classroom discussion. In Spain, Herzog praises Barcelona while criticizing Madrid's treatment of the historic center. Confronted with rapid growth, Madrid's regional governments focused largely on transportation and housing projects in the metropolitan periphery, which devalued the urban core after World War II. Surrender of central areas to the automobile and modernist towers degraded historic plazas to varying degrees—most notably the Plaza del Oriente, Plaza Colón, Plaza de España, and Plaza Castilla, while thankfully sparing the majestic Plaza Mayor and lively Puerta del Sol. Barcelona, on the other hand, [End Page 153] benefited from a long tradition of urban planning that valorized the historic center while allowing metropolitan growth, starting with Ildefonso Cerdá's design of the Eixample in the late 19th century. The city's contemporary renaissance began after Franco's death in 1976 and gained momentum with the 1992 Summer Olympic Games, which provided new infrastructure and revitalized the historic city center. New public beaches emerged in deteriorating central waterfront areas, while plazas and pedestrian promenades, most notably La Rambla, enjoyed added vitality. Herzog argues convincingly that Barcelona has favored public spaces of social interaction, recreation, and consumption, rather than monumental and impersonal spaces meant to impress from afar, as so often has been the case in Madrid. In Mexico, Herzog reemphasizes on the importance of urban design and historic preservation. Querétaro's historic center highlights the roles of various interest groups—including in this case the federal heritage agency, the municipal planners, and wealthy landowners and businesses—in creating a "walkable, vibrant urban space, and a highly visible tourist district" (p. 126). In Mexico City, several vibrant plazas remain—such as the zócalo, Plaza Santo Domingo, and the Alameda Park—while others...