Wells, Alexander T., and Seth B. Young. Airport Planning and Management. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004.

Wells, recently retired from the College of Business at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and Young (airport and transportation management, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University) have revised and updated material to reflect post-9/11 changes in the industry in this fifth edition of a text and reference for students and professionals in aviation. Coverage encompasses fundamentals as well as current policy and practice in airport management, with material on new technologies and regulatory issues, and guidance on airport site selection, design, financing, and security. © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, Oregon

Lassell, Michael. Celebration: The Story of a Town. New York: Disney Editions, 2004.

Celebration: The Story of a Town explores the history of planned communities in America; the original concepts for Celebration complete with input from architects, social historians, and perhaps most important, local residents; and the ups and downs of this unique community as it establishes itself as one of Florida's most desired addresses. Published by Disney Editions, it is a glossy, "accentuate the positive" review of the community's first few years. Reviewed in the January/February 2005 issue of New Urban News. Also reviewed April 2005 issue of Planning magazine.

Lewis, Robert, ed. Manufacturing Suburbs: Building Work and Home on the Metropolitan Fringe. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004.

Urban historians have long portrayed suburbanization as the result of a bourgeois exodus from the city, coupled with the introduction of streetcars that enabled the middle class to leave the city for the more sylvan surrounding regions. Demonstrating that this is only a partial version of urban history, Manufacturing Suburbs reclaims the history of working-class suburbs by examining the development of industrial suburbs in the United States and Canada between 1850 and 1950. Contributors demonstrate that these suburbs developed in large part because of the location of manufacturing beyond city limits and the subsequent building of housing for the workers who labored within those factories. Through case studies of industrial suburbanization and industrial suburbs in several metropolitan areas (Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, and Montreal), Manufacturing Suburbs sheds light on a key phenomenon of metropolitan development before the Second World War.

Panerai, Philippe, Jean Castex, and Jean-Charles Depaule. Urban Forms: the Death and Life of the Urban Block. Oxford: Architectural Press, 2004.

This popular and influential work, translated here into English for the first time, argues that modern urbanism has upset the morphology of cities, abolished their streets and isolated their buildings. In tracing the stages of this transformation, this book presents the view that the urban tissue, the intermediate scale between the architecture of buildings and the diagrammatic layouts of town planning, is the essential framework for everyday life. Only by investigating the urban tissue will it be possible to understand the complex relationships between plot and built form, between streets and buildings and between these forms and design practices. The chosen trail of the first French edition — Paris, London, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt — is one of continuously evolving modernity. It outlines a history, which, in one century (1860-1960), completely changed the aspect of our towns and cities and transformed our way of life. This English edition brings the story forward to the present day and considers the impact of the New Urbanism in the United States, which, over the last decade, has sought to reestablish former relationships within the urban tissue.

Isenberg, Alison. Downtown America: A History of the Place and the People Who Made It. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.

Downtown America cuts beneath the archetypal story of downtown's rise and fall and offers a dynamic new story of urban development in the United States. Moving beyond conventional narratives, Alison Isenberg shows that inevitable free market forces or natural life-and-death cycles did not dictate downtown's trajectory. Instead, it was the product of human actors — the contested creation of retailers, developers, government leaders, architects, and planners, as well as political activists, consumers, civic clubs, real estate appraisers, even postcard artists. Throughout the 20th century, conflicts over downtown's mundane conditions — what it should look like and who should walk its streets — pointed to fundamental disagreements over American values. Reviewed in October 2004 issue of Planning magazine.

Environmental Law Deskbook. 7th ed. Washington, D.C.: Environmental Law Institute, 2003.

This edition has been revised and updated and includes the latest information on twenty-three statutes, encompassing resource protection, pollution control, and administrative procedure, in full text. Updates to the new edition of the Environmental Law Deskbook include the brownfields funding provisions and liability exemptions recently added to CERCLA, the new Clean Water Act monitoring and reporting requirements for coastal recreation waters, and the Safe Drinking Water Act provisions addressing the assessment, detection, and containment of intentionally introduced or terrorist contamination of public drinking water supplies.

Chiras, Dan, and Dave Wann. Superbia: 31 Ways to Create Sustainable Neighborhoods. Gabriola Island, B.C.: New Society Publishers, 2003.

Superbia is a book of practical ideas for creating more socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable neighborhoods. It is about remaking suburban and urban neighborhoods to serve people better and to reduce human impact on the environment. Examples from all over North America and beyond provide real-life proof that citizen planners can create Superbia! And the most comprehensive resource listing imaginable puts all the tools needed at your fingertips.

Husock, Howard. America's Trillion-Dollar Housing Mistake: The Failure of American Housing Policy. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2003.

Positive reviews from the Bush administration and Heritage Foundation should give a hint as to the policy leanings of the author. Mr. Husock explains how, as with so many anti-poverty efforts, low-income housing programs have harmed those they were meant to help while causing grave collateral damage to cities and their citizens. Public housing projects, Mr. Husock writes, are only the best-known housing policy mistakes. His book explains how a long list of lesser-known efforts — including housing vouchers, community development corporations, the low-income housing tax credit, and the Community Reinvestment Act — are just as pernicious, working in concert to undermine sound neighborhoods and perpetuate a dependent underclass. Instead he argues for the deep but unappreciated importance to American society of economically diverse urban neighborhoods, and he demonstrates the historic and continuing importance of privately built "affordable" housing, from the brownstones of Brooklyn to the bungalows of Oakland and, in the present day, houses built through Habitat for Humanity. Review, October 2004 Planning magazine.

Lord, Richard. American Nightmare: Predatory Lending and the Foreclosure of the American Dream. Monroe, Me.: Common Courage Press, 2005.

And now for something completely different ... a perspective on housing from the political left. Homeowners who can't or won't borrow from banks have long turned to the subprime lending industry for mortgages. Increasingly, that industry has turned on them by charging outrageous fees and usurious interest, and then taking their homes through foreclosure. American Nightmare: Predatory Lending and the Foreclosure of the American Dream explores the growth of subprime lending and the related spread of predatory lending practices. It shows the links between predatory lending and rising foreclosure rates. And it tells the stories of borrowers who've been taken, contractors and brokers who've been co-opted, lenders who've cheated — and the world's biggest financial titans, who've cashed in. As states try to rein in predatory practices, unscrupulous lenders and their backers have asked Washington to take their side. There, a battle is taking shape that could determine whether home ownership for working people will be an achievable dream, or an American nightmare. Reviewed in March 2005 issue of Planning magazine.

Berg, Leo van den, and Antonio Russo. The Student City: Strategic Planning for Student Communities in EU Cities. Aldershot, Hants: Ashgate, 2004.

Student communities are without doubt a strategic resource for urban development and students are the citizens and the high-skilled working class of tomorrow. They are seen as an "invisible population" with little say in local policy and decision making. Cooperation between educational institutions and city planners is often missing and cities tend to neglect the universities' foreign relations. This volume argues that the importance of human capital in the competitiveness of cities demands proactive, integral city policies targeting this community. Bringing together nine case studies of European cities (Rotterdam, Utrecht, Eindhoven, Munich, Lyon, Lille, Venice, Birmingham and Helsinki), it puts forward a comprehensive strategic plan of action, aiming at the integration of student communities in urban development. The book analyses the essential characteristics of the relationship between students and their host communities, as well as the role of higher education institutions and other actors in building the "student friendly" city.

Shaw, Diane. City Building on the Eastern Frontier: Sorting the New Nineteenth-Century City. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004.

"With this lively and original analysis of Syracuse and Rochester, New York, Diane Shaw takes us — literally and figuratively — into the heart of the nearly 2,000 new middle-sized cities that Americans built in the 19th century. Correcting conventional assumptions based only on the expansion of colonial seacoast centers, Shaw convincingly shows us how business leaders in the interior of the country rethought the role and design of cities and wove a new vernacular urbanism of carefully sorted commercial, industrial, and civic areas and buildings. Everyone interested in nineteenth-century American architecture and urbanism needs to read this book!"
—Paul Groth, University of California, Berkeley. Also reviewed in March 2005 issue of Planning magazine.

Jacobs, Harvey M., ed. Private Property in the 21st Century: The Future of an American Ideal. Northampton, Mass.: Edward Elgar, 2004.

Private property is central to American character, culture and democracy. The founding fathers understood it as key to the liberties America was designed to foster. However, over the last 200 years what one owns has evolved; ownership is different now than for an owner 200, 100, even 50 years ago. Harvey Jacobs has brought together an interdisciplinary, politically divergent group of contributors to speculate on private property's future. Review appears in July 2004 issue of Planning magazine.

Nolon, John R. New Ground: The Advent of Local Environmental Law. Washington, D.C.: Environmental Law Institute, 2003.

This volume presents a collection of papers examining local environmental law and its strategic role in shaping an appropriate response to a new generation of environmental and land use challenges. Contributors are distinguished scholars and practitioners who have written casebooks and articles on land use and environmental law, served in federal, state, and local administrations or national bar and planning association committees, or prepared national treatises on the subject. Their papers were presented at a symposium hosted by Pace University School and co-sponsored by ELI.

Nolon, John R. Open Ground: Effective Local Strategies for Protecting Natural Resources. Washington, D.C.: Environmental Law Institute, 2003.

Most books on environmental protection focus on the critical role of federal and state legislation, and agencies in promoting and protecting environmental values. When one turns to the subject of open space protection, the role of local governments, their legislatures and administrative bodies, is paramount. Local governments in most states have been delegated primary responsibility for determining how private land is developed and conserved. The result being that when requests for local approval of development projects are made, local boards do not have the power to properly protect their environmental resources. Despite this reality, there is no comprehensive source of information about strategies available to localities to protect the environment. This book is designed to fill that void. It is offered with the knowledge that properly drafted land use ordinances, land acquisition programs, and smart growth strategies can protect critical landscapes and valued natural resources. These initiatives can counter the negative effects of polluted runoff, erosion and sedimentation, habitat removal, wetland disappearance, and water quality degradation that comes from the improper location of buildings and other improvements, poorly managed site clearance and management, and environmentally insensitive construction practices.

Seidman, Karl F. Revitalizing Commerce for American Cities: A Practitioner's Guide to Urban Main Street Programs. Washington, D.C.: Fannie Mae Foundation, 2004.

This publication offers guidance on applying Main Street principles to city neighborhoods and expanding those principles to effectively address key urban challenges. Included are case studies that show how practitioners have applied lessons and practices from other communities to revitalize their commercial districts.

Feiock, Richard C., ed. Metropolitan Governance: Conflict, Competition, and Cooperation. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2004.

Metropolitan Governance is the first book to bring together competing perspectives on the question and consequences of centralized vs. decentralized regional government. Presenting original contributions by some of the most notable names in the field of urban politics, this volume examines the organization of governments in metropolitan areas, and how that has an effect on both politics and policy. Existing work on metropolitan governments debates the consequences of inter-jurisdictional competition, but neglects the role of cooperation in a decentralized system. Feiock and his contributors provide evidence that local governments successfully cooperate through a web of voluntary agreements and associations, and through collective choices of citizens. This kind of "institutional collective action" is the glue that holds institutionally fragmented communities together. Reviewed in December 2004 issue of Planning magazine.

Ozawa, Connie P., ed. Portland Edge: Challenges and Successes in Growing Communities. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2004.

Portland, Oregon, is often cited as one of the most livable cities in the United States and a model for "smart growth." At the same time, critics deride it as a victim of heavy-handed planning and point to its skyrocketing housing costs as a clear sign of good intentions gone awry. Which side is right? Does Portland deserve the accolades it has received, or has hype overshadowed the real story? In The Portland Edge, leading urban scholars who have lived in and studied the region present a balanced look at Portland today, explaining current conditions in the context of the people and institutions that have been instrumental in shaping it. Contributors provide empirical data as well as critical insights and analyses, clarifying the ways in which policy and planning have made a difference in the Portland metropolitan region. Review appears in April 2005 issue of Planning magazine.

DeParle, Jason. American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids, and a Nation's Drive to End Welfare. New York: Viking, 2004.

While campaigning for president in 1992, Bill Clinton vowed to "end welfare as we know it"; four years later, the much-publicized slogan evolved into a law that sent nine million women and children off the rolls. New York Times reporter DeParle takes an eye-opening look at the controversial law through the lives of three black women affected by it, all part of the same extended family, and at the shapers of the policy. He moves back and forth between the women's tough Milwaukee neighborhoods and the strategy sessions and speeches of Clinton, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson and others. But the best parts of the book are its slices of life: DeParle accompanies the women on trips to the dentist, on visits to loved ones in jail, to job-training workshops and on travels to Mississippi. He offers few solutions for breaking the cycle of poverty and dependency in America, but DeParle's large-scale conclusion is that moving poor women into the workforce contributed to declines in crime, teen pregnancy, and crack use. Publishers Weekly, Monday, July 26, 2004. Reviewed by John Landis at Planning Books in Review 2005, 2005 National Planning Conference.

Diamond, Jared. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. New York: Viking, 2005.

Diamond weaves an all-encompassing global thesis through a series of fascinating historical-cultural narratives. Moving from the Polynesian cultures on Easter Island to the flourishing American civilizations of the Anasazi and the Maya and finally to the doomed Viking colony on Greenland, Diamond traces the fundamental pattern of catastrophe. Environmental damage, climate change, rapid population growth, and unwise political choices were all factors in the demise of these societies, but other societies found solutions and persisted. Similar problems face us today and have already brought disaster to Rwanda and Haiti, even as China and Australia are trying to cope in innovative ways. Despite our own society's apparently inexhaustible wealth and unrivaled political power, ominous warning signs have begun to emerge even in ecologically robust areas like Montana. Reviewed by John Landis at Planning Books in Review 2005, 2005 National Planning Conference.

Starr, Kevin. Coast of Dreams: California on the Edge, 1990-2003. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.

In this extraordinary book, Kevin Starr — widely acknowledged as the premier historian of California — probes the possible collapse of the California dream in the years 1990–2003. In a series of compelling chapters, Coast of Dreams moves through a variety of topics that show the California of the last decade, when the state was sometimes stumbling, sometimes humbled, but, more often, flourishing with its usual panache. Reviewed by John Landis at Planning Books in Review 2005, 2005 National Planning Conference.