Mumford, Lewis, 1895–1990, American social philosopher, b. Flushing, N.Y.; educ. City College of New York, Columbia, New York Univ., and the New School for Social Research. A critic of the dehumanizing tendencies of modern technological civilization, Mumford argues that humanity's only hope lies in a return to human feelings and sensitivities and to moral values. In addition to social philosophy, his works cover such areas as architecture and city planning. He served as professor at Stanford, the Univ. of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Univ. of California at Berkeley, and other universities. Among his books are Technics and Civilization (1934), The Culture of Cities (1938), The Condition of Man (1944), The Conduct of Life (1951), The Transformations of Man (1956), The City in History (1961), and Interpretations and Forecasts (1973).

Bibliography

See biography by D. L. Miller (1992); F. G. Novak, Jr., ed., Lewis Mumford and Patrick Geddes: The Correspondence (1995).

Mumford, Lewis

(born Oct. 19, 1895, Flushing, N.Y., U.S.—died Jan. 26, 1990, Amenia, N.Y.) U.S. architectural critic, urban planner, and cultural historian. After studying at the City College of New York and at the New School for Social Research, he taught at various universities and wrote for The New Yorker, The Dial, and other magazines. In works such as Technics and Civilization (1934), The City in History (1961), and The Myth of the Machine (3 vol., 1967–70), Mumford analyzed the effects of technology and urbanization on human societies, criticizing the dehumanizing tendencies of modern technological society and urging that it be brought into harmony with humanistic goals and aspirations. See also urban planning.

Mumford, Lewis (1895–1990) social thinker, writer; born in Flushing, N.Y. A student at both City and Columbia Universities (1912–18) who never graduated, he wrote for New Republic and Harper's in the 1920s before publishing his first book, Sticks and Bones (1924). A charter member of the Regional Planning Association of America (1924), he became architectural critic for the New Yorker in the 1930s. He produced a series of books about the debilitating effects of technology on city life, including the four-volume study The Renewal of Life (1934–51), The Culture of Cities (1938), and The City in History (1961). Seen as a visionary by some and a prophet of doom by others, he continued to offer plans for dealing with the chaos of urban life. He was a planning professor at the University of Pennsylvania (1952–61), and visiting professor at other universities, including the University of California: Berkeley and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.