The City
Its Distance from Nature
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4487979 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Yi-Fu Tuan, Yi‐fu Tuan (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1978 |
| Volume | 68 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 1 |
| Publication date | 1978-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Geographical Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0016-7428 • E-ISSN: 1931-0846 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/213507 |
| OpenAlex | W2320248546 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 11 |
W H HAT is essential character of city? Many scholars have tried to answer this question, but they do not often agree. Some are eager to arrive at a statistical measure: at its simplest, a is a settlement of a certain size. Others have in mind an ideal type, approached perhaps by Greek polis or a Renaissance city-state, and urban places are then judged in accordance with how closely they conform to ideal. Thus a settlement may be deemed too small or too agricultural in its major functions; on other hand, Imperial Rome or a modern metropolis may be deemed too large and lacking in physical as well as in sociopolitical coherence. A third group of scholars look at statement the of city and understand word nature to carry sense of origin. To know or essence of a thing-whether it be tragic drama, religion, or city-one must seek its primitive forms. This viewpoint may be characterized as etymological, because it tends to identify true meaning with root meaning.1 It is futile to seek a definition of that commands universal assent. We ask different questions and necessarily arrive at different answers. This does not mean, however, that all answers are equally arbitrary or revealing. For instance, few scholars think statistical criterion, used alone, is satisfactory. From experience we know that cities differ in character and intensity of their urban life. The problem is to conceive of a scale that is least arbitrary. The one I shall explore is based on idea that cities are artifacts and worlds of artifice placed at varying distances from human conditions close to nature. I assume that a life close to is bound to food
Geography · Literary, Cultural, Historical Analysis · Urban Planning and Landscape Design
| Unique citing works | 11 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,25 |
| Citation span | 1982 - 2023 (42) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |