Lewis Mumford
American historian and critic of cities and technology (1895 to 1990).
At a glance
Main ideas
Organic humanism, Language before tools, Megatechnics …
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The Story of Utopias, The Golden Day, Technics and Civilization …
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The City in History and The Technological Society
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- Mumford was a historian, philosopher of technology and literary critic best known for his studies of cities and architecture.
- He was architecture critic for The New Yorker for over 30 years.
- His early optimism about technology turned into a critique of "megatechnics", large centralised systems that expand for their own sake.
- He argued instead for an "organic" balance between technology, cities and nature.
Why it matters
- His histories of the city and of technology remain foundational for urban planning and for critics of runaway technology.
Key facts
- Born
- 19 Oct 1895, Flushing, Queens, New York1
- Died
- 26 Jan 1990, at his home in Amenia, New York, aged 941
- Education
- City College of New York and The New School; did not finish a degree after tuberculosis1
- Navy
- Radio electrician in World War I, from 1918 to 19191
- Writing
- Associate editor of The Dial; architecture critic for The New Yorker for over 30 years1
- Honours
- National Book Award for The City in History; Presidential Medal of Freedom (1964); honorary KBE (1975); National Medal of Arts (1986)1
Main ideas
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Organic humanism1
Human possibilities are limited by the needs of the human body: air, food, water and comfortable space.
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Language before tools1
What sets humans apart is symbols and language, not mainly tool use.
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Megatechnics1
Modern technology pursues endless expansion and replacement over durability and human satisfaction.
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Biotechnics1
Technology fitted to living organisms and their environments, aiming at plenitude rather than power.
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Polytechnics and monotechnics1
Many-sided technology against technology for its own sake, such as car-only transport.
Books to start with
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Connections
Links
Sources
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