Katharine L. Shester reviews a book by Jason Barr about the development of New York City 

Katharine L. Shester 评论 Jason Barr 关于纽约市发展的一本书

In Building the Skyline, Jason Barr takes the reader through a detailed history of New York City. The book combines geology, history, economics, and a lot of data to explain why business clusters developed where they did and how the early decisions of workers and firms shaped the skyline we see today. Building the Skyline is organized into two distinct parts. The first is primarily historical and addresses New York's settlement and growth from 1609 to 1900; the second deals primarily with the 20th century and is a compilation of chapters commenting on different aspects of New York's urban development. The tone and organization of the book changes somewhat between the first and second parts, as the latter chapters incorporate aspects of Barr's related research papers. 

在《构建天际线》一书中，杰森-巴尔带领读者详细了解了纽约市的历史。书中结合了地质学、历史学、经济学和大量数据，解释了商业集群发展的原因，以及工人和公司早期的决定如何塑造了我们今天看到的天际线。构建天际线》分为两个不同的部分。第一部分以历史为主，讲述了纽约从 1609 年到 1900 年的定居和发展情况；第二部分主要讲述 20 世纪的情况，是对纽约城市发展的不同方面进行评论的章节汇编。本书第一部分和第二部分的基调和组织结构有些变化，因为后几章纳入了巴尔相关研究论文的内容。

Barr begins chapter one by taking the reader on a 'helicopter time-machine' ride – giving a fascinating account of how the New York landscape in 1609 might have looked from the sky. He then moves on to a subterranean walking tour of the city, indicating the location of rock and water below the subsoil, before taking the reader back to the surface. His love of the city comes through as he describes various fun facts about the location of the New York residence of early 19th-century vice-president Aaron Burr as well as a number of legends about the city. 

巴尔在第一章开头带领读者乘坐 “直升机时光机”--引人入胜地描述了 1609 年的纽约景观从空中俯瞰的样子。然后，他开始了城市的地下漫步之旅，指出地下岩石和水的位置，最后带读者回到地面。他对这座城市的热爱溢于言表，他描述了 19 世纪初副总统亚伦-伯尔（Aaron Burr）在纽约居住地的各种趣事，以及许多关于这座城市的传说。

Chapters two and three take the reader up to the Civil War (1861–1865), with chapter two focusing on the early development of land and the implementation of a grid system in 1811. Chapter three focuses on land use before the Civil War. Both chapters are informative and well researched and set the stage for the economic analysis that comes later in the book. I would have liked Barr to expand upon his claim that existing tenements* prevented skyscrapers in certain neighborhoods because 'likely no skyscraper developer was interested in performing the necessary “slum clearance”'. Later in the book, Barr makes the claim that the depth of bedrock** was not a limiting factor for developers, as foundation costs were a small fraction of the cost of development. At first glance, it is not obvious why slum clearance would be limiting, while more expensive foundations would not. 

第二章和第三章将读者带入南北战争（1861-1865 年）之前，其中第二章侧重于土地的早期开发和 1811 年网格系统的实施。第三章重点介绍了南北战争之前的土地使用情况。这两章内容翔实，研究透彻，为本书后面的经济分析奠定了基础。我希望巴尔能进一步阐述他的观点，即 “很可能没有摩天大楼开发商有兴趣进行必要的‘贫民窟清理’”，因此现有的唐人街*阻碍了某些街区建造摩天大楼。在书的后面，巴尔声称基岩**的深度并不是限制开发商的因素，因为地基成本只是开发成本的一小部分。初看之下，我们并不清楚为什么贫民窟清理会成为限制因素，而更昂贵的地基却不会。

Chapter four focuses on immigration and the location of neighborhoods and tenements in the late 19th century. Barr identifies four primary immigrant enclaves and analyzes their locations in terms of the amenities available in the area. Most of these enclaves were located on the least valuable land, between the industries located on the waterfront and the wealthy neighborhoods bordering Central Park. 

第四章的重点是 19 世纪晚期的移民以及街区和公寓的位置。巴尔指出了四块主要的移民飞地，并根据该地区的便利设施分析了它们的位置。这些飞地大多位于最不值钱的土地上，介于海滨工业区和中央公园附近的富人区之间。

Part two of the book begins with a discussion of the economics of skyscraper height. In chapter five, Barr distinguishes between engineering height, economic height, and developer height — where engineering height is the tallest building that can be safely made at a given time, economic height is the height that is most efficient from society's point of view, and developer height is the actual height chosen by the developer, who is attempting to maximize return on investment. 

本书第二部分首先讨论了摩天大楼高度的经济学问题。在第五章中，巴尔区分了工程高度、经济高度和开发商高度，其中工程高度是指在特定时间内可以安全建造的最高建筑，经济高度是指从社会角度来看最有效的高度，而开发商高度则是开发商选择的实际高度，开发商试图最大限度地提高投资回报。

Chapter five also has an interesting discussion of the technological advances that led to the construction of skyscrapers. For example, the introduction of iron and steel skeletal frames made thick, load-bearing walls unnecessary, expanding the usable square footage of buildings and increasing the use of windows and availability of natural light. Chapter six then presents data on building height throughout the 20th century and uses regression analysis to 'predict' building construction. While less technical than the research paper on which the chapter is based, it is probably more technical than would be preferred by a general audience. 

第五章还对导致摩天大楼建造的技术进步进行了有趣的讨论。例如，钢铁骨架的引入使得厚重的承重墙变得没有必要，从而扩大了建筑物的可用面积，增加了窗户的使用和自然光的供应。第六章介绍了整个 20 世纪的建筑高度数据，并使用回归分析法来 “预测 ”建筑施工。虽然这一章的技术含量低于其所依据的研究论文，但它的技术含量可能高于普通读者的喜好。

Chapter seven tackles the 'bedrock myth', the assumption that the absence of bedrock close to the surface between Downtown and Midtown New York is the reason for skyscrapers not being built between the two urban centers. Rather, Barr argues that while deeper bedrock does increase foundation costs, these costs were neither prohibitively high nor were they large compared to the overall cost of building a skyscraper. What I enjoyed the most about this chapter was Barr's discussion of how foundations are actually built. He describes the use of caissons, which enable workers to dig down for considerable distances, often below the water table, until they reach bedrock. Barr's thorough technological history discusses not only how caissons work, but also the dangers involved. While this chapter references empirical research papers, it is a relatively easy read. 

第七章讨论了 “基岩神话”，即认为纽约市中心和中城之间地表附近没有基岩是两个城市中心之间没有建造摩天大楼的原因。相反，巴尔认为，虽然较深的基岩确实会增加地基成本，但这些成本既不会高得令人望而却步，与建造摩天大楼的总体成本相比也不算高。我最喜欢这一章的是巴尔对地基实际建造方法的讨论。他介绍了沉箱的使用，这种沉箱可以让工人向下挖掘相当长的距离，通常在地下水位以下，直到挖到基岩。巴尔详尽的技术史不仅讨论了沉箱的工作原理，还讨论了其中的危险。虽然本章参考了实证研究论文，但阅读起来相对轻松。

Chapters eight and nine focus on the birth of Midtown and the building boom of the 1920s. Chapter eight contains lengthy discussions of urban economic theory that may serve as a distraction to readers primarily interested in New York. However, they would be well-suited for undergraduates learning about the economics of cities. In the next chapter, Barr considers two of the primary explanations for the building boom of the 1920s — the first being exuberance, and the second being financing. He uses data to assess the viability of these two explanations and finds that supply and demand factors explain much of the development of the 1920s; though it enabled the boom, cheap credit was not, he argues, the primary cause. 

第八章和第九章的重点是中城的诞生和 20 世纪 20 年代的建筑热潮。第八章包含对城市经济理论的冗长讨论，可能会分散对纽约感兴趣的读者的注意力。不过，这些内容非常适合学习城市经济学的本科生。在下一章中，巴尔考虑了 20 世纪 20 年代建筑繁荣的两个主要解释--第一个是繁荣，第二个是融资。他利用数据评估了这两种解释的可行性，发现供求因素可以解释 20 世纪 20 年代的大部分发展；他认为，尽管廉价信贷促成了繁荣，但它并不是主要原因。

In the final chapter (chapter 10), Barr discusses another of his empirical papers that estimates Manhattan land values from the mid-19th century to the present day. The data work that went into these estimations is particularly impressive. Toward the end of the chapter, Barr assesses 'whether skyscrapers are a cause or an effect of high land values'. He finds that changes in land values predict future building height, but the reverse is not true. The book ends with an epilogue, in which Barr discusses the impact of climate change on the city and makes policy suggestions for New York going forward. 

在最后一章（第 10 章），巴尔讨论了他的另一篇经验性论文，该论文估计了曼哈顿从 19 世纪中叶至今的土地价值。这些估算的数据工作尤其令人印象深刻。在本章末尾，巴尔评估了 “摩天大楼是高地价的原因还是结果”。他发现，土地价值的变化可以预测未来的建筑高度，但反之则不然。巴尔在书的后记中讨论了气候变化对城市的影响，并为纽约未来的发展提出了政策建议。

* a tenement: a multi-occupancy building of any sort, but particularly a run-down apartment building or slum building

* 唐楼：任何类型的多住户建筑，尤其是破旧的公寓楼或贫民窟建筑

** bedrock: the solid, hard rock in the ground that lies under a loose layer of soil

** 基岩：位于松散土层下的坚硬岩石