The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream
by Christopher B. Leinberger
from Island Press
Americans are voting with their feet to abandon strip malls and suburban sprawl, embracing instead a new type of community where they can live, work, shop, and play within easy walking distance. In The Option of Urbanism visionary developer and strategist Christopher B. Leinberger explains why government policies have tilted the playing field toward one form of development over the last sixty years: the drivable suburb. Rooted in the driving forces of the economy—car manufacturing and the oil industry—this type of growth has fostered the decline of community, contributed to urban decay, increased greenhouse gas emissions, and contributed to the rise in obesity and asthma.
Highlighting both the challenges and the opportunities for this type of development, The Option of Urbanism shows how the American Dream is shifting to include cities as well as suburbs and how the financial and real estate communities need to respond to build communities that are more environmentally, socially, and financially sustainable.
Urban Land Use Planning, Fifth Edition
by Philip R. Berke
from University of Illinois Press
Divided into three sections, this edition of Urban Land Use Planning deftly balances an authoritative, up-to-date discussion of current practices with a vision of what land use planning should become. It explores the societal context of land use planning and proposes a model for understanding and reconciling the divergent priorities among competing stakeholders; it explains how to build planning support systems to assess future conditions, evaluate policy choices, create visions, and compare scenarios; and it sets forth a methodology for creating plans that will influence future land use change.
Discussions new to the fifth edition include how to incorporate the three Es of sustainable development (economy, environment, and equity) into sustainable communities, methods for including livability objectives and techniques, the integration of transportation and land use, the use of digital media in planning support systems, and collective urban design based on analysis and public participation.
Environmental Land Use Planning and Management
by John Randolph
from Island Press
Environmental Land Use Planning and Management is a unique new textbook that presents a diverse, comprehensive, and coordinated approach to issues of land use planning and management and their impacts on the environment. It builds on recent advances in environmental science, engineering, and geospatial information technologies to provide students with the scientific foundation they need to understand both natural land systems and engineering approaches that can mitigate impacts of land use practices. While offering a base of knowledge in planning theory and natural science, its primary emphasis is on describing and explaining emerging approaches, methods, and techniques for environmental land use planning, design, and policy.
The book is divided into two parts. Part I, "Environmental Land Use Management," introduces broad concepts of environmental planning and describes management approaches. Those approaches include collaborative environmental management, land conservation, environmental design, government land use management, natural hazard mitigation, and ecosystem and watershed management. Part II, "Environmental Land Use Principles and Planning Analysis," focuses on land analysis methods, such as geospatial data and geographic information systems (GIS); soils and slope analysis; assessment of stormwater quantity and quality; land use and groundwater protection; ecological assessment for vegetation, wetlands, and habitats; and integrated analytical techniques like land suitability analysis, carrying capacity studies, and environmental impact assessment.
Environmental Land Use Planning and Managementoffers a unique interdisciplinary perspective with an emphasis on application. It is an important new text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in environmental planning, landscape architecture, geography, environmental studies, and natural resource management, and a valuable resource for professionals and others concerned with issues of environmental planning and land use.
Practical Ecology for Planners, Developers, and Citizens
by Dan L. Perlman
from Island Press
Practical Ecology for Planners, Developers, and Citizens introduces and explains key ecological concepts for planners, landscape architects, developers, and others involved in planning and building human habitats. The book is tailored to meet the needs of busy land use professionals and citizens seeking a concise yet thorough overview of ecology and its applications. It offers clear guidelines and a wealth of information on how we can protect species and ecosystems while at the same creating healthy, sustainable human communities.
Throughout the book, the authors make ecological concepts accessible to readers with little or no scientific background. They present key ideas and information in simple and pragmatic terms, and provide numerous graphics to help explain important concepts. They also offer exercises for the reader to practice ecologically-based planning and design, along with a list of resources for practical information on ecology and conservation.
Practical Ecology for Planners, Developers, and Citizens will raise the level of ecological understanding among land use professionals and citizens, and is an invaluable new resource for anyone concerned with human land use and its environmental impacts.
Planning in the USA: Policies, Issues and Processes
by J Cullingworth
from Routledge
This extensively revised and updated edition of Planning in the USA continues to provide a comprehensive introduction to the policies, theory and practice of planning. Outlining land use, urban planning and environmental protection policies, this fully illustrated book explains the nature of the planning process and the way in which policy issues are identified, defined and approached.
Land Use and Society: Geography, Law, and Public Policy
by Rutherford H. Platt
from Island Press
Land Use and Society: Geography, Law, and Public Policy examines the history, current practice, and unmet needs of land use planning and regulation in the United States. Rutherford H. Platt, a geographer and lawyer with over twenty-five years experience in research, teaching, and consulting on land use policy, recounts the evolution of land use management and regulation from its early roots in English common law to contemporary legal approaches and constitutional issues. Topics covered include:
- the interaction of geography and law in land use policy
- historic development of response to urban problems in the nineteenth century
- important land use legal cases in the United States over the past century, including current takings law
- strengths and weaknesses of American experience with zoning laws and related measures
- techniques employed by state and local governments to steer private developers into responsible growth practices
- the protection of wetlands, floodplains, coastal zones, and agricultural areas
- what has been accomplished and what remains inadequately addressed in contemporary urban land use management
Community Planning: An Introduction To The Comprehensive Plan
by Eric Damian Kelly
from Island Press
Community Planning is an introductory textbook that provides a thorough examination of the comprehensive planning process as practiced in the United States today. The authors consider all aspects of the comprehensive plan: its elements, adoption, and implementation. The book:
- introduces the planning student to the job of a planner
- defines and explains the importance of a comprehensive plan
- details the separate elements that make up the comprehensive plan
- directs students to resources for obtaining data necessary for creating and updating a plan
- provides techniques for citizen participation
Each chapter ends with separate boxes that consider, for that stage of development, the role of the planner and how citizens can participate in and influence the planning process. In addition, each chapter presents exercises designed to reinforce the learning in the chapter and offers questions for further discussion.
By using the framework of the comprehensive plan and walking the reader through the planning process, the authors clearly demonstrate what planners do, and how citizens can become involved in shaping the future of their community. The book will be an invaluable resource for students and faculty in planning departments across the country.
City Comforts: How to Build an Urban Village, Revised Edition
by David Sucher
from City Comforts Inc.
Be both hedgehog and fox. Know thousands of little details. Know three big rules. The book shows examples of small things city comforts that make urban life pleasant: places where people can meet, methods to tame cars and to make buildings good neighbors, art that infuses personality into locations and makes them into places. Many of these small details are so obvious as to be invisible. The book also discusses what the author calls the Three Rules of Urban Design. You can download a sample chapter at David's blog citycomforts.com
Anatomy of a Park: Essentials of Recreation Area Planning and Design
by Bernard Dahl
from Waveland Press
Everyone from the professional to the layperson is affected by what a designer proposes for the development of parklands. The entire community has a stake in the results. Dahl and Molnar enable the reader to experience the aesthetic and functional aspects of park design through the eyes of the people for whom parks are planned, designed, and built. The book bridges the gaps that often exist between park designer and park user, between landscape architect and park board, between administrators and maintenance staff. Readers will enjoy the witty and lively presentation of the principles that govern skillful plan interpretation and effective site design, addressing the modern-day challenges facing landscape architects, park administrators and personnel, and the communities they serve. The third edition includes a detailed treatment of creative funding solutions, including the ins and outs of grant writing and application. Readers will be better able to identify opportunities and generate ideas for building partnerships to help conceive and implement park projects. The authors engage the reader in thought-provoking discussions about multiple-use concepts, nature preservation and energy conservation, the increasing importance of cost-conscious budgeting, the value of good design and durable construction, and the latest in computer-assisted park design and maintenance.
New Urbanism and Beyond: Designing Cities for the Future
from Rizzoli
Best defined as the art of shaping the built environment, urban design seeks to understand and analyze the variety of forces—social, economic, cultural, legal, ecological, and aesthetic—that affect how we live. The complex challenges facing cities today—scarcity of resources, growing economic divisions, and rampant sprawl, among others—are forcing a reconsideration of urban design. New Urbanism, a leading movement within urban design, advocates a return to small-town urban forms: human-scale, pedestrian-friendly streets, a reinvigoration of cities, and a stop to suburban sprawl. This new volume, drawing on a conference and debates at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, comprehensively examines New Urbanism today and speculates about it’s future. With contributions from Christopher Alexander, Leon Krier, Peter Hall, Andrés Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Jeff Speck, William McDonough, Peter Calthorpe, Jan Gehl, Lars Lerup, Edward Soja, and Saskia Sassen, among others, New Urbanism and Beyond is both a comprehensive primer on urban design and a provocation for practitioners, historians, and citizens everywhere.
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