TILL WE HAVE BUILT

JERUSALEM:

Architecture, Urbanism,

 And the Sacred

by Philip Bess

ISI Books, 2006

325 pages, $24.40 HB, $14.40 PB

isibooks.org

Few are the architects who discuss modern issues in their fields while quoting Aristotle, Aquinas, Plato, Chesterton and Nietzsche. But Philip Bess, professor at Notre Dame’s School of Architecture, is unique.

Bess advocates the “new urbanism,” a contemporary architectural movement that seeks to build communities that foster human flourishing, in contrast to the suburban “sprawl” that has been the model for much postwar housing construction. New Urbanism aims to do this by building on a human scale, where mixed-use residential, commercial and communal properties are blended together on a scale not dependent on cars.

According to Bess, New Urbanism seeks “the creation of new neighborhoods and small towns that foster a participatory common life for the most part freely chosen: in which individual lives of learning, filial affection and obligation, respect for the dignity of others, the pursuit of excellence, the competitive creation of wealth, and religious devotion are centered largely in families, the workplace, religious communities, schools, ... and other political and voluntary associations.”

Bess wants to build communities that once were commonplace in this country but that cultural trends and zoning have rendered all but extinct. Bess’ analysis of those cultural trends provides insightful reading, running the gamut from why many mainstream architects continue building monstrosities to which “most modernist Catholic churches have been ... spiritual, aesthetic, and evangelical disasters.”

Six chapters focus on “the Sacred and the City.” Chapter nine, “Sacramental Sign, Neighborhood Center,” is a balanced and insightful critique on building churches today, examining problems as diverse as the “iconographic importance of the church building,” the possibilities of parishes in promoting neighborhood renewal, and why suburban churches surrounded by mall-like parking lots are sending the wrong message.

He also explains why traditional baseball parks, like Fenway or Wrigley Field appeal to fans (because they’re good baseball parks in good neighborhoods) and why, despite the demands of Major League teams pushing for new sports complexes, such arenas rarely prosper their neighborhoods nor renew the cities sinking big money into them. New Urbanism, Bess argues, addresses demands of social justice (non-economically segregated neighborhoods), natural law (social life organized on a human scale) and ecology (integrated communities in lieu of sprawl).

 Some might criticize this book as being long on philosophy while shortchanging the economic and commercial aspects of home construction. As Witold Rybczynski, in his best-seller Last Harvest observes, a development may be planned with some lofty principles in mind, but folks buy houses based on considerations like how big the driveway is or whether they want more closet space.

 That may be true, but there is still a need for a philosophical defense of traditional communities, and Bess fills that need. This book should serve as a model for how professors at Catholic universities should write across the disciplines: a professionally solid yet readable treatment of issues grounded in philosophical and theological principles that offer solutions based on the whole truth about man.

John M. Grondelski

writes from Washington, D.C.