Urban Flaneur Guidebook

Paris Photos by Peter O'Toole, Artist Book Press, Ltd.; First edition (January 5, 2009) ISBN-10: 0615239528 ISBN-13: 978-0615239521 You can go to Amazon.com or other booksellers to order this book. This is not an advertsement. Just a suggestion. I just happened upon this book while doing some research. This is the perfect gift for your friend or associate who is an urban flaneur. For some interesting reading about Paris and a literary interpretation go to the article by Joshua Parker that was published in Urbana: http://www.tamuk.edu/geo/urbana/fall2006/

An urban area is often thought of as innately functional consisting of dwelling places, shops, services governmental structures and industries and related activities. This yields a very sterile definition of urban areas, but unfortunately many cities are no more than this. A city should be a place where its citizens experience whimsy, irony, wonder, controversy, enlightenment and beauty. Urban outdoor art is a means to bring some of these elements into a city. Many modern cities are devoid of such urban art, because of the dull and utilitarian nature that many view the city--particularly local decision-makers. However, the citizens only have themselves to blame if they elect those who are deficient in their ability to be creative or imaginative. (If they have "creativity defincient disorder", then their abiity to confront other more mundane issues will probably be less than stellar.) In the next few posts, I would like to post some examples of urban art. I would also encourag...