Perry, David C., and Wim Wiewel, eds. University as Urban Developer: Case Studies and Analysis. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 2005.

This is the first book to explore the role of the university as developer. It offers a rich array of case studies and analyses that clarify the important roles universities play in the growth and development of cities. The cases describe a host of university practices, community responses, and policy initiatives surrounding university real estate development.

Seidman, Karl F. Economic Development Finance. Thousand Oaks, Cal.: Sage, 2005.

A comprehensive and in-depth presentation of private, public, and community financial institutions, policies and methods for financing local and regional economic development projects. The treatment of policies and program models emphasizes their applications and impact, key design and management issues, and best practices. A separate section addresses critical management issues for development finance programs: program and product design, the lending and investment process, and capital management. Case studies are included throughout the book to help readers develop their skills and apply policies and tools to real practice issues. A glossary of finance terms is also included.

Reviewed in January 2005 issue of Planning magazine.

Wiewel, Wim, and Gerrit-Jan Knapp, eds. Partnerships for Smart Growth: University-Community Collaboration for Better Public Places. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 2005.

Linking the worlds of community development, higher education administration, and urban design, this guidebook offers useful information on how universities and communities can best develop partnership projects. Its focus on smart growth projects further enhances its value for those interested in how urban, suburban, and rural growth can be accommodated while preserving open spaces and quality of life. Partnerships for Smart Growth includes 13 case studies of university-community collaborations on smart growth initiatives. Each case includes a comprehensive discussion of how and why the project was initiated, who was involved, what techniques were employed, what were the pitfalls, and what was the outcome.

Ndubisi, Forster. Ecological Planning: A Historical and Comparative Synthesis. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.

Ecological planning is the process of understanding, evaluating, and providing options for the use of landscape to ensure a better fit with human habitation. Forster Ndubisi provides a succinct historical and comparative account of the various approaches to this process. He then reveals how each of these approaches offers different and uniquely useful perspectives for understanding the dialogue between human and environmental processes. A Choice Magazine Outstanding Academic Title for 2003. Reviewed in June 2003 issue of Planning magazine.

Zimmerer, Karl S., and Thomas J. Bassett, eds. Political Ecology: An Integrative Approach to Geography and Environment-Development Studies. New York: Guilford Press, 2003.

Twelve carefully selected case studies demonstrate how contemporary geographical theories and methods can contribute to understanding key environment-and-development issues and working toward effective policies. Topics addressed include water and biodiversity resources, urban and national resource planning, scientific concepts of resource management, and ideas of nature and conservation in the context of globalization.

"An illuminating and comprehensive volume of case studies in political ecology, edited by two of the field's most distinguished analysts. Addressing issues of politics, landscape, and representation, chapters examine topics ranging from urban waterscapes to mountain agriculture, from GIS and environmental science to ecotourism and slavery. The book provides a tour d'horizon of political ecology through its foundational discipline, geography. Useful for students, scholars, and practitioners, this will be an indispensable text for all readers interested in the biophysical and social forces that shape land use."
— Susanna Hecht, Department of Urban Planning, UCLA School of Public Policy and Social Research

Pruetz, Rick. Beyond Givings and Takings: Saving Natural Areas, Farmland, and Historic Landmarks with Transfer of Development Rights and Density Transfer Charges. Marina Del Rey, Cal.: Arje Press, 2003.

Beyond Takings and Givings updates and expands the 1997 publication Saved By Development, until now, the most comprehensive book on TDR. It offers a progress report on most of the 112 TDR programs profiled in the 1997 book plus case studies of 30 additional programs. Beyond Takings and Givings places TDR within the context of the ongoing property rights debate. Some property rights advocates believe that governments should compensate for regulations that reduce but do not eliminate property value, or "partial takings." In contrast, some community rights advocates argue that compensation is inappropriate because value reductions are offset by the value increases created by government actions and regulations, often without reimbursement, or "givings." TDR offers a practical alternative to this stalemate. Reviewed in October 2003 issue of Planning magazine.

Wagner, Fritz W., ed. Revitalizing the City: Strategies to Contain Sprawl and Revive the Core. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 2005.

The authors provide actual case examples of urban success stories — ranging from San Diego's smart growth initiative to brownfield redevelopment in Pittsburgh. The book is divided into four major sections — Urban Growth, Metropolitan Development and Administration, Central City Redevelopment Strategies, and Central City-Suburban Cooperation. Each chapter includes an analysis of key issues, descriptions of specific local initiatives, highlights of effective policies or programs, and potential pitfalls to avoid.

Dittmar, Hank, and Gloria Ohland. The New Transit Town: Best Practices in Transit-Oriented Development. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2004.

The New Transit Town brings together leading experts in planning, transportation, and sustainable design to examine the first generation of TOD projects and derive lessons for the next generation. It offers topic chapters that provide detailed discussion of key issues along with case studies that present an in-depth look at specific projects. Case Studies include Arlington, Virginia (Roslyn-Ballston corridor); Dallas (Mockingbird Station and Addison Circle); historic transit-oriented neighborhoods in Chicago; Atlanta (Lindbergh Center and BellSouth); San Jose (Ohlone-Chynoweth); and San Diego (Barrio Logan). Reviewed in May 2004 issue of Planning magazine.

Sullivan, Robert. Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants. New York: Bloomsbury, 2004.

In Rats, the critically acclaimed bestseller, Robert Sullivan spends a year investigating a rat-infested alley just a few blocks away from Wall Street. Sullivan gets to know not just the beast but its friends and foes: the exterminators, the sanitation workers, the agitators and activists who have played their part in the centuries-old war between human city dweller and wild city rat. Sullivan looks deep into the largely unrecorded history of the city and its masses — its herds-of-rats-like mob.

Jakle, John A., and Keith A. Sculle. Lots of Parking: Land Use in a Car Culture. Charlottesville, Va.: University of Virginia Press, 2004.

John A. Jakle and Keith A. Sculle examine a fundamental feature of the urban and suburban scene — the parking lot. Their lively and exhaustive exploration traces the history of parking from the curbside to the rise of public and commercial parking lots and garages and the concomitant demolition of the old pedestrian-oriented urban infrastructure. In an accessible style enhanced by a range of interesting and unusual illustrations, Jakle and Sculle discuss the role of parking in downtown revitalization efforts and, by contrast, its role in the promotion of outlying suburban shopping districts and its incorporation into our neighborhoods and residences. Reviewed in February 2005 issue of Planning magazine.

Theokas, Andrew C. Grounds for Review: The Garden Festival in Urban Planning and Design. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2004.

Garden Festivals are more than temporary horticultural expositions. Complex and phased, these projects have additional significance as planning stratagems, reclamation projects, public art venues, and precursors of new urban parks. Their scope extends well beyond that implied by the term "garden festival." Typically exceeding 50 hectares, they stimulate development and steer site design through a unique merger of domestic garden culture with a large-scale urban project. Reviewed in July 20005 issue of Planning magazine.

Waldie, D. J. Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005.

D. J. Waldie recounts growing up in Lakewood, California, a prototypical post-World War II suburb. Laid out in 316 sections as carefully measured as a grid of tract houses, Holy Land is by turns touching, eerie, funny, and encyclopedic in its handling of what was gained and lost when thousands of blue-collar families were thrown together in the suburbs of the 1950s. An intensely realized and wholly original memoir about the way in which a place can shape a life, Holy Land is ultimately about the resonance of choices — how wide a street should be, what to name a park — and the hopes that are realized in the habits of everyday life.

Goldberger, Paul. Up from Zero: Politics, Architecture, and the Rebuilding of New York. New York: Random House, 2004.

In Up from Zero, Paul Goldberger, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, tells the inside story of the quest to rebuild one of the most important symbolic sites in the world, the 16 acres where the towers of the former World Trade Center stood. A story of power, politics, architecture, community, and culture, Up from Zero takes us inside the controversial struggle to create and build one of the most challenging urban-design projects in history.

Forsyth, Ann. Reforming Suburbia: The Planned Communities of Irvine, Columbia, and The Woodlands. Berkeley, Cal.: University of California Press, 2005.

The "new community" movement of the 1960s and 1970s attempted a grand experiment in housing. It inspired the construction of innovative communities that were designed to counter suburbia's cultural conformity, social isolation, ugliness, and environmental problems. This richly documented book examines the results of those experiments in three of the most successful new communities: Irvine Ranch in Southern California, Columbia in Maryland, and The Woodlands in the suburbs of Houston, Texas.

Galatas, Roger, and Jim Barlow. The Woodlands: The Inside Story of Creating a Better Hometown. Washington, D.C.: Urban Land Institute, 2004.

A behind-the-scenes look into The Woodlands, an innovative new town that was built from the ground up near Houston, Texas. This is the story of the people who were instrumental in developing it and the experiences and challenges they had in creating a better, "new" hometown. Includes photographs from yesterday and today.