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What's New April-May 2004
Books and Documents Controversial Land Uses
This book provides a comprehensive evaluation of the neighborhood property value and crime impacts of deconcentrated assisted housing. Using a multimethod research strategy, the authors analyze a Section 8 program in Baltimore County, a scattered-site public housing program in Denver, and supportive housing program for special-needs populations in Denver as case studies. The study addresses the following questions: Does assisted housing of various types cause negative neighborhood impacts? Do impacts vary across different types of neighborhoods? Do the spatial concentration or the scale of the facility affect neighborhood impacts? How can deconcentration programs be revised to minimize negative impacts on neighborhoods? The authors combine archival research, informant interviews, econometric analysis, and focus groups to obtain definitive answers to these questions and provide practical recommendations for policymakers across the country who are forming and implementing programs to deconcentrate assisted housing. This important book fills a glaring knowledge gap to aid the formulation and implementation of national and local housing policy. Environmental Planning
Today at least 25 major U.S. cities have pursued some form of sustainability initiative. Although many case studies and "how-to" manuals have been published, there has been little systematic comparison of these cities' programs and initiatives. In this book Kent Portney lays the theoretical groundwork for research on what works and what does not, and why. Distinguishing cities on the basis of population characteristics and region for his analysis, Portney shows how cities use the broad rubric of sustainability to achieve particular political ends. Cities that take sustainability seriously, such as Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle, use broad definitions that go well beyond concern for the physical environment or creating jobs. They pursue sustainability at many levels and integrate concern for economic development, the environment, and quality of life across all activities of city government. Cities that take sustainability less seriously, such as Cleveland, Boston, and Orlando, confine it to such issues as solid waste disposal, brownfields, redevelopment, and neighborhood beautification. Still other cities, such as New Haven, Brownsville, and Milwaukee, do considerably less to work toward sustainability.
The authors present a variety of methods and techniques that can be used to highlight the trade-offs and promote sustainable decisions among diverse users. Their interdisciplinary analysis draws upon the latest scientific knowledge as well as social science insights on property rights and governance, with cases from the developed and developing world.
Housing
Focusing on Los Angeles, Cuff looks at urban transformation through the architecture and land development of large-scale residential projects. She demonstrates the inherent instability of very large sites. Having created perverse renditions of the very problems they sought to solve, for example, public housing projects that underwent upheaval in the 1940s and 1950s are doing so again. Cuff explores five cases that span the period from the 1930s, when federal support for slum clearance and public housing caused convulsions near downtown, to a huge 1990s mixed-use development on one of Los Angeles's last remaining wetlands. The story takes us from the refined modernist architecture of Richard Neutra to the self-conscious populism of the New Urbanism. The cases illuminate the relationship of housing architecture to issues of race, class, urban design, geography, and political ideology. Law and Legislation
Every year, experts gather at The Center for American and International Law's Annual Institute on Planning, Zoning, and Eminent Domain to discuss issues important to practitioners representing, or dealing with, municipalities and local governments.
Written by specialists in the field, this updated edition of Land Use Regulation provides real estate specialists, general practitioners, and planning officials with a convenient and practical resource for handling typical land use problems. It is written from the perspective of the administrative process that most often is encountered in a land use matter.
Open Space
This is the first comprehensive treatment of land trusts; it combines a historical overview of the movement with more specific information on the different kinds of land trusts that exist and the problems they face. The volume also offers a "how-to" approach for persons and institutions interested in donating, selling, or buying land, discusses four major national land trusts (The Nature Conservancy, Trust for Public Land, American Farmland Trust, and Rails-to-Trails Conservancy); and gives a generous sampling of information about the activities and accomplishments of smaller, local trusts nationwide. Throughout, the book is enriched by historical narrative, analysis of successful land trusts, and information on the how and why of protecting land, as well as Brewer's intimate knowledge of ecological systems, biodiversity, and the interconnectedness of human and non-human life forms. Planning History
Patterned on The American Vitruvius: An Architect's Handbook of Civic Art (1922), one of the most successful and well-known architecture books ever published, The New Civic Art, with 1,200 new illustrations and all new text for over 1,000 entries, exemplifies the very best urban planning and town design. This entirely new book thoroughly details the most important recent trends as well as time-honored precedents. It includes information drawn from over 200 international sources.
This book focuses on the precarious balance between transportation planning and stewardship of the public realm. Long before the esplanades were realized, great swaths of the river were given over to industrial enterprises and transportation — millponds, bridges, landfills, and a complex network of road and railway bridges. In 1929, Boston's first major highway controversy erupted when a four-lane road was proposed as part of a new esplanade. At 20-year intervals, three riverfront road disputes followed, successively more complex and disputatious, culminating in the lawsuits over "Scheme Z," the Big Dig's plan for 18 lanes of highway ramps and bridges over the river. More than three hundred photographs, maps, and drawings illustrate past and future visions for the Charles and document the river's place in Boston's history.
The Scottish urbanist and biologist Patrick Geddes (1854-1932) is perhaps best known for introducing the concept of "region" to architecture and planning. At the turn of the 20th century, he was one of the strongest advocates of town planning and an active participant in debates about the future of the city. He was arguably the first planner to recognize the importance of historic city centers, and his renewal work in Edinburgh's Old Town is visible and impressive to this day. Geddes's famous analytical triad — place, work, and folk, corresponding to the geographical, historical, and spiritual aspects of the city — provides the basic structure of this examination of his urban theory. Volker Welter examines Geddes's ideas in the light of 19th-century biology — in which Geddes received his academic training — showing Geddes's use of biological concepts to be far more sophisticated than popular images of the city as an organic entity. His urbanism was informed by his lifelong interest in the theory of evolution and in ecology, cutting-edge areas in the late 19th century. Balancing Geddes's biological thought is his interest in the historical Greek concept of polis, usually translated as city-state but implying a view of the city as a cultural and spiritual phenomenon. Planning Methodology
Going well beyond the usual broad warehouse, manufacturing, and flex categories, this groundbreaking book provides a thorough, detailed description of six major categories and 12 subcategories of industrial properties. Coverage of each building type includes color illustrations, a description of the interior and exterior features, physical characteristics, tenants, and location qualities. Tables summarize key aspects such as size, ceiling heights, and ratio of dock doors to interior space buildout. Additional sections illustrate how each building type fits into the overall industrial sector by describing important locational factors and development patterns, investment performance, and the building's relationship to the supply chain process. Maps illustrate location patterns in major markets. Redevelopment
In his latest book, Hudnut paints a picture of the older, first-tier suburbs where many of our nation's most critical issues — education reform, immigration and diversity, economic restructuring, neighborhood planning, and social exclusion are played out on a daily basis. He focuses on the unique and substantial assets these places have to offer and highlights the enthusiasm and commitment of the people who live, work, and play there. Drawing on actual examples from communities throughout America, Hudnut describes the strategies and solutions that have been successfully implemented by first-tier suburbs to revitalize themselves. These include a variety of policies and programs that nurture human capital, provide committed leadership, unleash the power of faith-based institutions, improve housing opportunities, work with Community Development Corporations, preserve historic structures, promote economic development, and recognize the importance of urban design. Site Planning
Site Planning and Design Handbook bridges the gap between the traditional methods of site planning and design and our growing awareness of sustainability issues. Heavily illustrated with construction details and graphic standards, the Handbook offers thorough, detailed coverage of: Site analysis, Environmental assessment, Grading, Design for traffic control, Open space design, Project management issues, including permitting and quality assurance, Historic landscapes, Preserving trees, Storm water management, and Materials specifications and standards. Available from Planners Book Service. Social Equity Planning
While many people view the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as the end of government-sponsored discrimination in the United States, Highway Robbery confirms the obvious and ignored truth: equality in transportation has been established in name only. Case by case, Highway Robbery shows how — a half-century after the Montgomery bus boycotts — chronic inequality in public transportation is firmly and nationally entrenched. Transportation Planning
Provides technical information on access management techniques, together with information on how access management programs can be effectively developed and administered. It presents access management — the systematic control of the location, spacing, design, and operation of driveways, median openings, interchanges, and street connections to a roadway — comprehensively, in an effort to integrate planning and engineering practices with the transportation and land use decisions that contribute to access outcomes. Urban Sociology
As Mike Davis shows, prophecies of urban doom too often come true. Beginning with a trip to New York's Ground Zero, Davis pairs the horror of lower Manhattan's falling skyscrapers with Las Vegas's delirious delight in blowing up its landmark hotels, where environmental terrorism is practiced in the name of urban development. We stop at "German Village," the Utah wasteland where Allied scientists once perfected their plans to destroy Berlin, then move on to Los Angeles, the frontline of a "Second Civil War" that lies waiting to be ignited in cities across the country. The title essay is an autopsy of the metropolis dead on a slab, with reflections on "bomber ecology" and "ghetto geomorphology." The final chapter, with accounts of Montreal and Auckland brought to their knees by ice storms and heat, warns that our urban infrastructures are as little prepared to deal with climate change as with car bombs and hijacked airliners. Other
Marsha Ackermann explores how the idea of "cooling" became firmly embedded in the social perceptions and expectations of Americans, transforming our definition of comfort and the way we live, work, and play. Most people first encountered air-conditioning in movie palaces and department stores during the 1920s, as well as in the futuristic World's Fair exhibits of the 1930s. However, the growth of suburbia during the 1940s and early '50s made air-conditioning a must-have for middle-class Americans, a potent symbol of the American way of life. Ackermann examines this expansion in detail, as well as the backlash from critics such as Lewis Mumford and Henry Miller, who viewed air-conditioning as an example of how American culture fosters waste and celebrates impersonal, centralized systems.
"If you were part of a study team trying to figure out what to do in a complicated (i.e., multi-party, multi-issue, technically complex) situation, you would want to rush out and get a copy of Embedded Case Study Methods by Roland Scholz and Olaf Tietje. Using their own Zurich North case study to explain the proper use of case study methods, they demonstrate how eleven different techniques — including integrated risk assessment, multi-attribute utility theory, scenario analysis, future workshops, and a kind of mediation called Area Development Negotiation — ought to be used to develop collaborative solutions. Along the way, they destroy conventional distinctions between quantitative and qualitative methods and offer (finally!) an integrated approach that applies equally well to problem framing, option generation, and the management of stakeholder encounters. Most of the relevant literature (from more than a dozen disciplines) is reviewed in detail. What more could a study team member want?" — Lawrence Susskind, Ford Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Compiled by Shannon Paul, Librarian, Merriam Center Library, American Planning Association, library@planning.org
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