City and town planning: architectural aspects Books

Book SynopsisThis book highlights radical urban transformation in eight cities spread across continental Europe. The point of departure, and the foundation of European urbanisation, is the Roman colonial town. In every case social dynamics guided the urban transitions in a traceable way, such that it has been possible to deduce the intellectual underpinnings of the contemporary built environments, as featured in these pages. Differing contexts of time and place show the overarching march of European history and related themes at the urban level. Fundamental changes are brought to light. Each story demonstrates a separate and fundamental transition, ranging from earlier collective configurations to the more institutionalised structures of later periods.

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Book SynopsisWe are marching towards a future in which three-quarters of humans live in cities, more than half of the landmass of the planet is urbanized, and the rest is covered by farms,pasture, and plantations. Increasingly, as we become ever more city-centric, species and ecosystems crafted by millions of years of evolution teeter on the brink of extinction - or have already disappeared.A growing band of 'urban ecologists' is beginning to realize that natural selection is not so easily stopped. They are finding that more and more plants and animals are adopting new ways of living in the seemingly hostile environments of asphalt and steel that we humans have created. Carrion crows in the Japanese city of Sendai, for example, have learned to use passing traffic to crack nuts for them; otters and bobcats, no longer persecuted by humans, are waiting at the New York City gates; superb fairy-wrens in Australia have evolved different mating structures for nesting in strips of vegetation along roads; while distinct populations of London underground mosquitoes have been fashioned by the varied tube line environments.Menno Schilthuizen shows us that evolution can happen far more rapidly than Darwin had dared dream.Trade ReviewInvigorating and beautifully written. - BBC WildlifeMy eyes and ears have been opened to the emerging science of urban ecology by Menno Schilthuizen - Financial TimesDelightful and charmingly written - Daily TelegraphSpellbinding and important - Sunday Times

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Book SynopsisNearly every US city would like to be more walkable—for reasons of health, wealth, and the environment—yet few are taking the proper steps to get there. The goals are often clear, but the path is seldom easy. Jeff Speck’s follow up to his bestselling Walkable City is the resource that cities and citizens need to usher in an era of renewed street life. Walkable City Rules is a doer’s guide to making change in cities, and making it now. The 101 rules are practical yet engaging—worded for arguments at the planning commission, illustrated for clarity, and packed with specifications as well as data. For ease of use, the rules are grouped into 19 chapters that cover everything from selling walkability, to getting the parking right, escaping automobilism, making comfortable spaces and interesting places, and doing it now! Walkable City was written to inspire; Walkable City Rules was written to enable. It is the most comprehensive tool available for bringing the latest and most effective city-planning practices to bear in your community. The content and presentation make it a force multiplier for place-makers and change-makers everywhere.Table of ContentsTable of Contents Introduction: Making Change Now Sell Walkability Mix the Uses Make Housing Attainable Escape Automobilism Get the Parking Right Let Transit Work Start with Safety Optimize Your Driving Network Right-Size the Number of Lanes Right-Size the Lanes Invite Biking Park On-Street Don’t Forget Geometry Fix Your Signals and Signs Make Great Sidewalks Make Comfortable Spaces Make Sticky Edges Do It Now

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Book SynopsisFlood risk is increasing across the UK and globally. This book provides a highly visual guide to flood resilience, and the ways in which the built and natural environment can be adapted to the threat of flooding. It offers advice on how to better understand the nature of flood risk, highlighting the key approaches and principles necessary for developing community and property flood resilience. Offering clear visual examples of the variety of resilience strategies that are appropriate and applicable to a range of flood risk contexts, this book is an invaluable practical manual for architects and professionals across the built environment. Highly practical handbook for architects, students, engineers, urban planners and other built environment professionals Richly illustrated with practical examples and case studies Draws on research from government, academic and industry experts as well as first-hand experiences from flood affected communities Table of ContentsChapter 1: Flood Risk Contexts & Consequences Chapter 2: Types of Flooding Chapter 3: Tools & Techniques for Understanding Flood Risk & Resilience Chapter 4: Catchment & Community Flood Risk Management Chapter 5: Building Level Strategies Chapter 6: Pathways to a Flood Resilient Future

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Book Synopsis“Once there was a nation that went to war, but after they conquered a continent their own country was destroyed by atom bombs... then the victors imposed democracy on the vanquished. For a group of apprentice architects, artists, and designers, led by a visionary, the dire situation of their country was not an obstacle but an inspiration to plan and think... although they were very different characters, the architects worked closely together to realize their dreams, staunchly supported by a super-creative bureaucracy and an activist state... after 15 years of incubation, they surprised the world with a new architecture—Metabolism—that proposed a radical makeover of the entire land... Then newspapers, magazines, and TV turned the architects into heroes: thinkers and doers, thoroughly modern men… Through sheer hard work, discipline, and the integration of all forms of creativity, their country, Japan, became a shining example... when the oil crisis initiated the end of the West, the architects of Japan spread out over the world to define the contours of a post-Western aesthetic....” —Rem Koolhaas / Hans Ulrich Obrist Between 2005 and 2011, architect Rem Koolhaas and curator Hans Ulrich Obrist interviewed the surviving members of Metabolism—the first non-Western avant-garde, launched in Tokyo in 1960, in the midst of Japan’s postwar miracle. Project Japan features hundreds of never-before-seen images—master plans from Manchuria to Tokyo, intimate snapshots of the Metabolists at work and play, architectural models, magazine excerpts, and astonishing sci-fi urban visions—telling the 20th-century history of Japan through its architecture. From the tabula rasa of a colonized Manchuria in the 1930s, a devastated Japan after the war, and the establishment of Metabolism at the 1960 World Design Conference in Tokyo to the rise of Kisho Kurokawa as the first celebrity architect, the apotheosis of Metabolism at Expo ’70 in Osaka, and its expansion into the Middle East and Africa in the 1970s: The result is a vivid documentary of the last moment when architecture was a public rather than a private affair. Oral history by Rem Koolhaas and Hans Ulrich Obrist Extensive interviews with Arata Isozaki, Toshiko Kato, Kiyonori Kikutake, Noboru Kawazoe, Fumihiko Maki, Kisho Kurokawa, Kenji Ekuan, Atsushi Shimokobe, and Takako and Noritaka Tange Hundreds of never-before-seen images, architectural models, and magazine excerpts Layout by award-winning Dutch designer Irma Boom Further reading Trade Review"Project Japan features hundreds of fantastic never-before-seen images that tell the 20th Century history of Japan through its architecture." * Yellow Magazine *

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Book SynopsisIn a positive departure from modernism, the work of the art critic and urbanist Ludwig Hilberseimer offers schemata towards the design for the city itself: its mereological composition. The resonance of parts unfolds to an alternative of a purely contrasting equation of form and content. It reminds us, that when the ground (gr.: logos) of the city is defined by its parts (gr.: meros), its architecture, the city in turn always also is part of the architecture as its desire. "The Mereological City" introduces a mereological methodology and contributes to an ongoing discussion about an ecological form of urban design.

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Book SynopsisIn the writing of urban design history of the twentieth century, functionalist and avant-garde models of the dissolution of the city are dominating. In contrast this book presents projects whose goal is the ideal of a dense and urbane city. Drawing on plans, built examples and theories of dense and urban cities and city districts in the twentieth century, modern examples of urban design are analysed and highlighted, which until now have been evaluated more as fringe phenomena. These include examples characterized by functional mixture, social openness, spatially defined public spaces, urban architecture, historical reference and a cultural understanding of the city. The book's new evaluation of modern urban design history creates opportunities for current planning by offering best-practice models, which better reflect the striving for urbanity and density.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“It’s no surprise that architect and urbanist Witold Rybczynski fell under the spell of Charleston, S.C., one of the most beautiful cities in the United States. Nor is it a shocker that this prolific author was inspired to write a book about Charleston in an attempt to get at the heart of what makes it special. What is surprising, and pleasantly so, is the circuitous route he takes to get us there.”—Logan Ward, Wall Street Journal“The writer of a new book on architecture in South Carolina’s oldest city praises past glories and rues recent developments.”—Steven Kurutz, New York TimesAwarded The Athenaeum of Philadelphia’s 2019 Literary Award for Architecture and Preservation “It is in the search for beauty, the careful execution of each detail, that the ensemble of her buildings creates a city that is admired and loved. Charleston Fancy teaches us this is still possible.”—Joseph P. Riley, Jr., Mayor of Charleston (1975–2016)“Rybczynski brings Charleston alive, architecturally, journalistically, humanly.”—Paul Hendrickson, author of Hemingway's Boat“In this engaging and fascinating account of development and urban conservation in and around Charleston, Rybczynski masterfully tells a series of interconnected stories that, like a complex Russian novel, involve a variety of characters, bound together by the place itself and its unique history and culture.”—Steven W. Semes, author of The Future of the Past

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Book SynopsisPermaculture is more than just the latest buzzword; it offers positive solutions for many of the environmental and social challenges confronting us. And nowhere are those remedies more needed and desired than in our cities. The Permaculture City provides a new way of thinking about urban living, with practical examples for creating abundant food, energy security, close-knit communities, local and meaningful livelihoods, and sustainable policies in our cities and towns. The same nature-based approach that works so beautifully for growing food—connecting the pieces of the landscape together in harmonious ways—applies perfectly to many of our other needs. Toby Hemenway, one of the leading practitioners and teachers of permaculture design, illuminates a new way forward through examples of edge-pushing innovations, along with a deeply holistic conceptual framework for our cities, towns, and suburbs. The Permaculture City begins in the garden but takes what we have learned there and applies it to a much broader range of human experience; we’re not just gardening plants but people, neighborhoods, and even cultures. Hemenway lays out how permaculture design can help towndwellers solve the challenges of meeting our needs for food, water, shelter, energy, community, and livelihood in sustainable, resilient ways. Readers will find new information on designing the urban home garden and strategies for gardening in community, rethinking our water and energy systems, learning the difference between a “job” and a “livelihood,” and the importance of placemaking and an empowered community. This important book documents the rise of a new sophistication, depth, and diversity in the approaches and thinking of permaculture designers and practitioners. Understanding nature can do more than improve how we grow, make, or consume things; it can also teach us how to cooperate, make decisions, and arrive at good solutions.Trade ReviewBooklist- "For the past six years, Hemenway’s acclaimed first book, Gaia’s Garden (2009), has been the world’s best-selling guidebook on home and garden permaculture. He now continues to champion this environmental philosophy that involves working with nature, instead of against it, for maximum sustainability. Although permaculture practices originally began with small-scale farms and gardens in mind, in his latest work Hemenway presents a much larger vision of applying them to metropolitan settings. In what is more than simply a handbook on finding space to grow fruits and vegetables in the concrete jungle, the author demonstrates just how widely the permaculture net can be cast by including advice on sustainably managing critical urban resources such as water, shelter, electricity, and even community centers. After introductory chapters on permaculture principles and the history and evolution of cities, Hemenway covers the basics of designing urban home gardens before moving on to discuss “water wisdom” and home energy solutions. An invaluable resource for city planners and dwellers alike, as well as an optimistic exploration of the possibilities for ecological well-being in our future urban landscapes.”Library Journal- "Permaculture refers to a method of agricultural design that uses natural approaches. While several chapters address the unique challenges and opportunities in creating an urban garden, Hemenway refers often to his first book, Gaia’s Garden, the initial major volume published in North America on permaculture principles, for further detail. Here, the author’s focus narrows to an urban setting, where permaculture means more than having a sustainable garden but can generate powerful change and community growth. Combining anecdotal stories of local U.S. neighborhoods practicing permaculture principles with black-and-white and color photos, Hemenway describes ways in which urban dwellers can not only create their own backyard oasis but join with their neighbors to build shared spaces in which to produce food, culture, and identity. Valuable tips on water conservation via rain harvesting and graywater collection mingle with advice on reducing energy consumption, producing local energy resources, and decreasing your foodshed and carbon footprints. Notes and index provide a reliable reference for further reading. VERDICT: An enlightening read for anyone interested in green gardening, environmental ethics, social justice issues, and seeking positive community change.”Publishers Weekly- "This eagerly awaited book from West Coast permaculture expert Hemenway, author of the classic Gaia's Garden, pushes permaculture design beyond its usual realm of homesteading and gardening, applying it to the complex systems that make up contemporary urban life. Other permaculturalists are also exploring these ideas, but Hemenway's intelligent, down-to-earth analyses, astute systems thinking, and clear organization offer a particularly comprehensive, open-ended, and sophisticated yet understandable overview to readers who want to discover, evaluate, utilize, and integrate the untapped resources abundant in any city or town. Hemenway focuses on the philosophical, ‘whetting appetites' and providing toolkits rather than in-depth instruction, with the goal of teaching readers 'to become adept at a whole-systems approach to living in and finding solutions in cities, towns, and suburbs.' Referencing livable-city innovators such as Jane Jacobs and human-scale design thinkers such as Christopher Alexander, Hemenway shows how permaculture concepts can be stretched and rethought in an urban setting to include not just one's house, garden, and yard but also neighbors, parks, and city agencies.”"Many people who are searching for a more fulfilling life, wanting to reduce their ecological footprint and build resilience for uncertain futures, grasp that permaculture might be part of the solution but are often unsure how it applies to their particular situation. For residents of towns and cities in the modern affluent world, The Permaculture City shows how permaculture design makes common sense."--David Holmgren, co-originator of the Permaculture concept"Toby Hemenway’s Gaia’s Garden is the go-to book I always recommend for those interested in permaculture. His new book, The Permaculture City, is the much-needed urban version, a great introduction and full of important information on adapting permaculture to an urban environment."--Starhawk, permaculture designer and author of The Empowerment Manual“The Permaculture City is a triumph in bringing the wisdom of permaculture practices to city dwellers. This book is a ‘bridge book’ for greening our urban landscapes. Rich in practical knowledge, Toby Hemenway is a trailblazer in demystifying the art of living sustainably within ecosystems: teaching how YOU can be a collaborative partner in a healthy urban biosphere. This book’s impact will be increasingly significant as we inevitably march toward living in built environments. For urban planners, architects, green builders, and simply citizens who want to enjoy a higher quality of life, The Permaculture City is The Book to lead the way.”--Paul Stamets, author of Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World “Permaculture is applied ecology, and its practice is evolving as society becomes more urbanized. As Toby Hemenway puts it, ‘We’re not just gardening plants but people, neighborhoods, and even cultures.’ Whether you’re new to permaculture or a seasoned ‘permie,’ The Permaculture City is essential: it captures the explorative state of the art in readable, often delightful prose. And, like all good permaculture books, it is eminently helpful at solving a myriad of practical problems in the home and garden.”--Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute “Toby Hemenway combines the skill of a storyteller with the vigour of experience and insight. He shows us an urban landscape with gardens, food, energy systems, and architecture that can ensure genuine sustainability. Beyond these vital elements, he also creates a template for a new kind of city: a human scale collection of village communities where quality of life is valued above quantity of output. With the majority of the human race becoming city dwellers, this is vital information for a more collaborative, intelligent, and resilient urban landscape, one that will enable us to face serious challenges now, and in the future.”--Maddy Harland, co-founder and editor of Permaculture magazine and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts "Toby Hemenway is among the true visionaries who can turn vision into practical action. The Permaculture City is a landmark book that will be used for decades as a compass and field guide to regenerate our world and communities. Toby depicts the virtuous circle people are already creating across the country and world, from small acts an individual can take, to larger systemic changes that only communities and societies can make. This is the gospel of building resilience from the ground up, and Toby is a true hero of our age—he shows us we’re all invited to the party.”--Kenny Ausubel, cofounder and CEO of Bioneers“Half the world’s people now live in cities, and as Toby Hemenway convincingly demonstrates, they can be at the very forefront of the revolution in how we live. This book will thrill you!”--Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy“I'm someone with a strong bias towards country living and I've always thought that the phrase 'urban permaculture' is oxymoronic. I've often thought master planners should be working to revive small towns, not build more cities. Toby Hemenway has shown me the error of my ways. The function of a well-conceived city, he says, is to inspire. His book inspires.”--Albert Bates, president, Global Village Institute for Appropriate Technology"We stand at a crossroads where long-held societal beliefs are shattered and assumptions fall before knowledge and reality. Human civilization is in the balance. Few people have grasped the significance of the moment in the way that Toby Hemenway has. His voice is particularly important at this time. The Permaculture City is his attempt to understand what we are confronted with and to skew the discussion toward sustainability. There is no doubt that his message is timely and relevant. Read this book like the life of your children depended on it … because it does.”--John D. Liu, director of the Environmental Education Media Project and visiting fellow at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology"What a great, accessible, and timely book! The Permaculture City is a must-read for anyone who loves where they live, wishes to deepen their relationship and pleasure in and with it, and realizes that our food, water, and community resilience may depend upon it. Toby Hemenway offers great guidance for applying the lens of intentional design to increasing food self-reliance (and pleasure!), improving water efficiency and usage, and growing community, three elements that promise to improve the quality of relatedness to place as well as resilience in the face of weather and other uncertainties. "Whether the topic is gardening in a window box or creating a community garden, catching and channeling rainwater, or redesigning an edible landscape around a suburban home, this timely book offers everyone a window into the joy and longterm fulfillment of permaculture."--Nina Simons, co-founder of Bioneers and founder of Everywoman’s Leadership

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Book SynopsisIn the first half of the twentieth century, urban elevated highways were much more than utilitarian infrastructure, lifting traffic above the streets; they were statements of civic pride, asserting boldly modern visions for a city's architecture, economy, and transportation network. Yet three of the most ambitious projects, launched in Chicago, New York, and Boston in the spirit of utopian models by architects such as Le Corbusier and Hugh Ferriss, ultimately fell short of their ideals. Modern Mobility Aloft is the first study to focus on pre-Interstate urban elevated highways within American architectural and urban history. Amy Finstein traces the idealistic roots of these superstructures, their contrasting realities once built, their impacts on successive development patterns, and the recent challenges they have posed to contemporary urban designers. Filled with more than 100 historic photographs and illustrations of beaux arts and art deco architecture, Modern Mobility Aloft provides a critical understanding of urban landscapes, transportation, and technological change as cities moved into the modern era.Trade Review“Like the elevated railroads before them, elevated highways have generally been viewed in negative terms by urban dwellers. Yet the elevated highway represents an important, if not altogether welcome, phase in the daunting challenges to reconcile the demands of accommodating motor vehicles to city fabric on a large scale. Amy Finstein’s beautifully researched and written book examines the seminal early stages of implementing this complex and costly infrastructure in Chicago, New York, and Boston during the first half of the twentieth century. Modern Mobility Aloft is an important analysis of the visionary schemes first devised to address the issue and the myriad factors involved in conceiving and implementing actual projects. Economic considerations, local politics, architectural design values, and changes in building and transportation technology are all addressed in a seamless, engaging narrative.”—Richard Longstreth, Professor of American Studies Emeritus, George Washington University“In Modern Mobility Aloft, Finstein looks deeply at the historical intersection of civil engineering, technology, and urbanism and comes up with a major topic that no one has seen before. She is exactly right in her assertion that the elevated highway as a specific mode of technological response to the problem of automobile congestion has not been treated systematically. More importantly, she sees the connection between the elevated highway and elements of modernist urbanism and culture. Her extensive, original archival work and case studies of downtown congestion and early highway design point to a new integration of the history of technology and urban history.”—Robert Fishman, Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning, Taubman College, University of Michigan"This handsomely produced, well-written book is about how three cities—New York, Chicago, and Boston—used elevated roadways well into the 20th century to alleviate the growing crush of traffic on surface roadways. Finstein chronicles the reconciliation of competing interests of political, engineering, and architectural remedies in the solutions offered and in what was either not built, built and later rebuilt, or demolished. Notable is Finstein's attention to issues of architectural style in projects thought of as mere engineering.... Well-illustrated with charts, plans, and photos, and supported by lots of endnotes and bibliographic information, this is an important scholarly resource. Summing Up: Recommended."—Choice"Modern Mobility Aloft focuses on the aesthetics of the structures, the design decisions that went into these highways, and their legacies.... [It is a] strong design-oriented history of elevated highways."—Technology and Culture"Finstein develops a clear and detailed narrative of the history and design of the three elevated highway projects, and presents an impressive amount of information, including numerous images, collected through extensive archival research. This makes the book an enjoyable read…. [T]he book offers important and relevant insights for urban planning and design professionals."—Journal of Planning History"[A] timely book.... Finstein offers an important addition to our understanding of the roots of America’s current transportation systems and of modern American cities.... One of the greatest strengths of Finstein’s work is the effective job she does of showing how a diffuse group of proponents viewed the elevated highways as the perfect solution to a range of issues faced in inter-war cities.... This book firmly and convincingly asserts that the period, the projects and the people who made them a reality influenced a great deal of the post-war world." —Urban History"A welcome addition to the growing body of literature on the impact of automobiles on the American built environment that includes suburbanization and large-scale highway systems.... Modern Mobility Aloft effectively broadens and deepens our understanding of highways as built form."—Buildings & Landscapes

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Book SynopsisThe title of this book is taken from Ebenezer Howard's visionary tract To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform. Published in 1898 as a manifesto for social reform via the creation of Garden Cities, it proposed a new way of providing cheap and healthy homes, workplaces and green spaces in balance in cohesive new communities, underpinned by radical ideas about collective land ownership. While Howard's vision had international impact, in this book planning historian Stephen Ward largely honors the special place that Hertfordshire occupies on the peaceful path, beginning with the development of Letchworth and Welwyn Garden Cities.Table of Contents1. Ebenezer Howard2. Letchworth Garden City3. Welwyn Garden City4. Finding other paths5. Stevenage6. Hertfordshire's other New Towns7. Wider Perspectives8. Where the path led

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Book SynopsisTemporary and Tactical Urbanism examines a key set of urban design strategies that have emerged in the twenty-first century. Such projects range from guerrilla gardens and bike lanes to more formalised temporary beaches and swimming pools, parklets, pop-up plazas and buildings and container towns. These practices enable diverse forms of economic, social and artistic life that are usually repressed by the fixities of urban form and its management. This book takes a thematic approach to explore what the scope of this practice is, and understand why it has risen to prominence, how it works, who is involved, and what its implications are for the future of city design and planning. It critically examines the material, social, economic and political complexities that surround and enable these small, ephemeral urban interventions. It identifies their short-term and long-term implications for urban intensity, diversity, creativity and adaptability. The book''s insightTable of ContentsIntroduction, 1. Definitions, 2. Interests, 3. Practice, 4. Assemblage, 5. Creativity, 6. Temporality, 7. Capacities, 8. Futures

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Book SynopsisAn enthralling guide to one of the world's great cities that blends history and insights into the present day from one of the most astute commentators on the politics of Istanbul'' PETER FRANKOPAN''A love letter to this ancient capital'' THE TIMESWalking along the crumbling defensive walls of Istanbul and talking to those he passes, Alexander Christie-Miller finds a distillation of the country's history, a mirror of its present, and a shadow of its future.Caught between two seas and two continents, Istanbul lies at the centre of the most pressing challenges of our time. With environmental decay, rapacious development and tightening authoritarianism straining its social fabric to breaking point, it represents the precipitous moment civilizations around the world are currently facing.In and around its crumbling Byzantine-era fortifications, Alexander Christie-Miller meets people who are experiencing the looming crisis and fighting back, sometimes triumphing despite the odds.To the City Trade Review EARLY PRAISE FOR TO THE CITY 'A love letter to this ancient capital…a work of storytelling skill and passion, a handsome tribute to a city that always transfixes' The Times 'The author is a sensitive and patient presence, piecing together these stories over many pages. Spending time at a teahouse, an animal shelter and a former Dervish hall that is now an academic institution, he brings to life the rich variety of these neighbourhoods. While Christie-Miller’s focus remains on the streets surrounding the walls, his characters offer broader insights into Turkey’s social and political make-up. He is also sensitive to the poetry of his surroundings, captured in moments of lyrical precision: “Behind them I saw the remains of the Byzantine sea wall hanging like a scrap of old parchment strung out to dry in the sun' Financial Times ‘Alexander Christie-Miller is an exceptionally fluent and imaginative writer who knows Turkey intimately’ Max Hastings 'An absorbing and thoroughly engaging study of modern-day Turkey. His research is first class, and he writes very well…Christie-Miller’s love of the city and its people shines through this wonderful book' Literary Review 'Between the ancient minarets that punctuate the city’s skyline, the author seeks out the real soul of Istanbul in its diverse peoples, past and present, by raising up voices rarely heard' National Geographic Magazine 'Alexander Christie-Miller has written a gripping portrait, with both the sweeping scope of a historian and the intimate, laser-like eye of a travel writer. This also a deeply humane account of a legendary city, not always well served by its leaders' Daniel Metcalfe author of Blue Dahlia

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Book Synopsis'Counterintuitive, funny and provocative . Along the way, he reveals the deep-lying and often controversial roots of today's green city movement, and offers an argument for celebrating our cities as they are - in all their raucous, constructed and artificial glory.

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Book SynopsisClimate change is having an immediate and sometimes life-threatening impact, especially for older adults – generally speaking, people 65 or older. Older adults often face mobility, cognitive, and resource challenges, which contribute to a disproportionate number of deaths in the face of major disasters. But some challenges are less visible. Consider the grandparent who no longer can stand and wait at the bus stop because of the heat, or the retiree who lives in a home with black mould due to chronic flooding that she can’t afford to remediate or leave because of her limited fixed income. Our population is aging—by 2034, the US will have more people over 65 than under 18. Despite the evidence that climate change is severely impacting older adults, and the reality that communities will be confronted with more frequent and more severe disasters, we’re not prepared to address the needs of older adults and other vulnerable populations in the face of a changing climate. In Climate Resilience for an Aging Nation, community resilience and housing expert Danielle Arigoni argues that we cannot achieve true resilience until communities adopt interventions that work to meet the needs of their oldest residents. She explains that when we plan for those most impacted by climate, and for those with the greatest obstacles to opportunity and well-being, we improve conditions for all. Arigoni explores how to integrate age-friendly resilience into community planning and disaster preparedness efforts through new planning approaches—including an age-friendly process, and a planning framework dedicated to inclusive disaster recovery—to create communities that serve the needs of older adults better, not only during disasters but for all the days in between. Examples are woven throughout the book, including case studies of age-friendly resilience in action from New York State; Portland, Oregon and Multnomah County; and New Orleans. Climate Resilience for an Aging Nation will help professionals and concerned citizens understand how to best plan for both the aging of our population and the climate changes underway so that we can create safer, more liveable communities for all.

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Book SynopsisIn its early decades, the Ethiopian capital, founded in 1886, witnessed a very specific form of architecture. At the beginning of the East African country’s first urbanisation process, a mixture of vernacular knowledge and a new cosmopolitan mindset led to an architectural type that local professionals refer to as the ‘Addis Ababa Style’: Pavilion-like buildings of different sizes, made of stone, earth, and wood, characterised by expressive pinched roofs, generous verandas with curtain walls, and a high degree of detailing. Today, those graceful, appropriate, and nature-based buildings are under threat of being swallowed up due to shortsighted economic interests. In cooperation with the Institute for Architecture in Addis Ababa (EiABC), architects of Berlin’s Technical University studied this typology with regard to its embeddedness in local resources, climatic conditions, and craftsmanship. As such, they employed the ‘Addis Ababa House’ as a case study to discuss the possibility of a non-industrial building type that reflects the desire for a cosmopolitan urban life.

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Book SynopsisAmid Japanâs political turbulence in 1960, seven architects and designers founded Metabolism to propagate radical ideas of urbanism. KenzÅ Tangeâs Plan for Tokyo 1960 further celebrated urban expansion as organic processes and pushed city design to an unprecedented scale. Metabolistsâ visionary schemes of the city gave birth to revolutionary design paradigms, which reinvented the discourse of modern Japanese architecture and propelled it through the years of Economic Miracle to a global prominence. Their utopian concepts, which often envisaged the sea and the sky as human habitats of the future, reflected fundamental issues of cultural transformation and addressed environmental crises of the postindustrial society.This new edition expands Zhongjie Linâs pathbreaking account on Tange and Metabolism centered at the intersection of urbanism and utopianism. The thorough historical survey, from Metabolismâs inauguration at the 1960 World Design Conference to the apex of the movemeTable of ContentsForeword by Arata Isozaki 1. Introduction: City as Organism 2. Metabolism 1960 3. Metabolist Utopias 4. Myths of Tokyo Bay 5. Structure and Symbol 6. Expo ’70 7. The Capsule Tower 8. Epilogue: Seeing the Future through the Past

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Book SynopsisHow do we provide for and nurture millions of people without destroying the planet in the process?Author Doug Kent, an environmental specialist, believes a vital element in the solution is recognizing that urban landscapes are an essential partner in everyone's wellbeing. He argues that urban landscapes can and must work harder.Urban landscapes can provide part of our energy needs, help cool our buildings and public spaces, help us make the most of our precious water. They can also help combat air pollution and reduce the likelihood of allergies and asthma. They can provide landscape materials and even contribute to our timber supply. Doug also advocates turning landscapes into a food source, and/or a perfumery, pharmacy, soap shop, or craft store.Doug has over 12 years of research in this book. He has spent years doing literature reviews, and many more years concocting, consuming, crafting, distilling, propagating, retting, sawing, sowing, and weaving i

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Book SynopsisAn enthralling guide to one of the world's great cities that blends history and insights into the present day from one of the most astute commentators on the politics of Istanbul'' PETER FRANKOPAN''A love letter to this ancient capital'' THE TIMESWalking along the crumbling defensive walls of Istanbul and talking to those he passes, Alexander Christie-Miller finds a distillation of the country's history, a mirror of its present, and a shadow of its future.Caught between two seas and two continents, Istanbul lies at the centre of the most pressing challenges of our time. With environmental decay, rapacious development and tightening authoritarianism straining its social fabric to breaking point, it represents the precipitous moment civilizations around the world are currently facing.In and around its crumbling Byzantine-era fortifications, Alexander Christie-Miller meets people who are experiencing the looming crisis and fighting back, sometimes triumphing despite the odds.To the City seamlessly blends two narratives: the story of Turkey's tumultuous recent past told through the lives of those who live around the walls, and the story of Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II's siege and capture of the city in 1453. That event still looms large in Turkey, as Recep Tayyip Erdogan like a latter-day sultan invokes its memory as part of his effort to transform the country in an echo of its imperial past.This is a meditation on the soul of Istanbul, a paean to its resilience and fortitude. Walk with Christie-Miller and see the danger, beauty and hope.

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Book SynopsisA bold reassessment of the major architectural monuments and urban forms of the world’s first industrial city: Manchester From the mid-eighteenth century to the nineteen-twenties, from the birth of the Industrial Revolution to the height of Manchester’s global significance and the beginning of its decline, Shock City challenges the idea that Paris was the "capital of the nineteenth century." Mark Crinson reorients this issue around the development of industrial production, particularly cotton and its manufacture by means of steam power, offering a fascinating and accessibly written account of how new relations in the industrial economy were manifested through the spaces and representations of the first industrial city. Focusing on Manchester’s mills and warehouses, its main trading institution (the Royal Exchange), its magnificent Gothic Revival Town Hall, and its late Gothic Revival Rylands Library, this book explores these iconic buildings alongside paintings, prints, maps, and photographs of the city throughout the period. Crinson interweaves analysis of buildings and images, urban spaces and new institutions, technology and industrial pollution to show how these were all the products of Manchester’s newly emergent industrial middle classes, who remade the city in their image. Distributed for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

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Book SynopsisResearching urban space and the built environment is an accessible guide for historians keen to explore the spatial dimensions of the past. Written in a clear and lively style, it equips readers with the tools to effectively plan, research and write innovative spatial histories. By outlining and summarizing the theories and methodologies particularly pertinent to spatial research, and by providing hands-on advice on locating evidence and archives, the book supports researchers in the development of their own original projects. Through engagement with a rich array of primary evidence and useful historiographical case-studies, the guide opens up a huge variety of research possibilities. This book is the ideal research companion for undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as independent researchers. It is especially tailored for students in history and related disciplines in the humanities encountering spatial themes and methodologies for the first time.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Researching urban space and the built environment 1: Theories and approaches to space and place 2: Planning a research project3: Developing a methodology4: Locating primary sources 5: Analysing primary sources 6: Writing up findings Select bibliographyIndex

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Book Synopsis“Soules’s excellent book makes sense of the capitalist forces we all feel but cannot always name… Icebergs, Zombies, and the Ultra Thin arms architects and the general public with an essential understanding of how capitalism makes property. Required reading for those who think tomorrow can be different from today.”— Jack Self, coeditor of Real Estates: Life Without Debt In Icebergs, Zombies, and the Ultra Thin, Matthew Soules issues an indictment of how finance capitalism dramatically alters not only architectural forms but also the very nature of our cities and societies. We rarely consider architecture to be an important factor in contemporary economic and political debates, yet sparsely occupied ultra-thin "pencil towers" develop in our cities, functioning as speculative wealth storage for the superrich, and cavernous "iceberg" homes extend architectural assets many stories below street level. Meanwhile, communities around the globe are blighted by zombie and ghost urbanism, marked by unoccupied neighborhoods and abandoned housing developments. Learn how the use of architecture as an investment tool has accelerated in recent years, heightening inequality and contributing to worldwide financial instability: • See how investment imperatives shape what and how we build, changing the very structure of our communities • Delve into high-profile projects, like the luxury apartments of architect Rafael Viñoly's 432 Park Avenue • Understand the convergence of technology, finance, and spirituality, which together are configuring the financialized walls within which we eat, sleep, and work Includes dozens of photos and drawings of architectural phenomena that have changed the way we live. Essential reading for anyone interested in architecture, design, economics, and understanding the way our world is formed.

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Book SynopsisHotel Plans contains more than 300 floor and elevations plans, as well as constructive details of 35 hotels projects from around the world, selected for being singular and unique hotels, both by their architecture and their interior design, that run away from the typical concept of standard hotel and are conceived for travellers looking for a different and unforgettable place to lodge.

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Book SynopsisThe room is dim, the chairs are in perfectly lined rows. The city planner puts up a color-coded diagram of the street improvement project, dreading the inevitable angry responses. Jana loves her community and is glad to be able to attend the evening meeting, and she has a lot of ideas for community change. But she has a hard time hearing, and can’t see the diagrams clearly. She leaves early. It’s time to imagine a different type of community engagement – one that inspires connection, creativity, and fun. People love their communities and want them to become safer, healthier, more prosperous places. But the standard approach to public meetings somehow makes everyone miserable. Conversations that should be inspiring can become shouting matches. So what would it look like to facilitate truly meaningful discussions between citizens and planners? What if they could be fun? For twenty years, James Rojas and John Kamp have been looking to art, creative expression, and storytelling to shake up the classic community meeting. In Dream Play Build, they share their insights into building common ground and inviting active participation among diverse groups. Their approach, “Place It!,” draws on three methods: the interactive model-building workshop, the pop-up, and site exploration using our senses. Using our hands to build and create is central to what makes us human, helping spark ideas without relying on words to communicate. Deceptively playful, this method is remarkably effective at teasing out community dreams and desires from hands-on activities. Dream Play Build offers wisdom distilled from workshops held around the world, and a deep dive into the transformational approach and results from the South Colton community in southern California. While much of the process was developed through in-person meetings, the book also translates the experience to online engagement--how to make people remember their connections beyond the computer screen. Inspirational and fun, Dream Play Build celebrates the value of engaging with the dreams we have for our communities. Readers will find themselves weaving these artful, playful lessons and methods into their own efforts for making change within the landscape around them.

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Book SynopsisWhy do we decide that parts of our built environment are worth the special attention that heritage designation brings? How can the character of conservation areas and other historic places continue to evolve to provide new housing, release their economic potential and enhance communities? What are the principles to understand when judging the impact of new development or alterations to our significant heritage assets? And what about the future of conservation? In seeking to answer such questions, this book provides a grounding for planners and other related professionals in the key concepts associated with conservation and how to apply them in practice. It begins by setting out the values and principles that underpin the current conservation-planning systems, explaining their historic context and evolution and critically examining these systems and possible counter approaches. Illustrated by a wide range of examples of historic and modern buildings, conservation areas, world heritage sites, parks and gardens, it then focuses upon decision-making and the management of change. It discusses how the conservation of the historic environment has become increasingly linked to other social and economic policy objectives before identifying key lessons and implications for future policy development and planning practice.Trade Review'a valuable starting reference for non-specialist planners, other related professions, students and any member of the public who might be trying to grasp an understanding of decision-making, or indeed toinfluence the (sometimes seemingly illogical) decisions and recommendations made by heritage professionals.' – Context magazine (from the Institute of Historic Building Conservation)Table of Contents1. Introduction; 2. Theories; 3. Principles of research, analysis and management; 4. Managing change: buildings; 5. Managing change: areas; 6. Conserving non-traditional environments: the heritage of modernity; 7. Conservation and impact; 8. Conservation and the Future

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Book Synopsis What knowledge is indispensable for the landscape architect? The answers to this question are as diverse as landscape architecture itself.In this book 50 landscape architects from Europe, North and South America, Asia and Australia each give five responses. These include practitioners and teachers, young start-ups as well as internationally established firms. The publication illustrates the complex and dynamic nature of the discipline, and presents a diverse cross-section of the core expertise of this field. At the same time, it allows the reader to trace the individual attitudes into which geographical conditions, social contexts and political circumstances flow.Each of the 250 statements is presented on a double page and illustrated by a picture.

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Book SynopsisOvercrowding, noise and air pollution, long commutes and lack of daylight can take a huge toll on the mental well-being of city-dwellers. With mental healthcare services under increasing pressure, could a better approach to urban design and planning provide a solution? The restrictions faced by city residents around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic has brought home just how much urban design can affect our mental health and created an imperative to seize this opportunity. Restorative Cities explores a new way of designing cities, one which places mental health and wellness at the forefront. Establishing a blueprint for urban design for mental health, it examines a range of strategies from sensory architecture to place-making for creativity and community and brings a genuinely evidence-based approach that will appeal to designers and planners, health practitioners and researchers alike - and provide compelling insights for anyone who cares about how our surroundings afTrade Review[A]n inspiring, educational, and succinct tour of the intersection of applied psychology, urban planning and design, and public health ... Restorative Cities: Urban Design for Mental Health and Wellbeing is both prudent and empowering ... Readers of the book are left with what feels like an accessible and modern handbook about how to envision and create humane urban settings that tend to the many psychosocial factors that matter now – and will for generations to come. * Cities & Health *A welcome, timely and important addition to the existing healthy urban planning literature ... Restorative Cities provides the evidence, the inspiration and a call to action. Now we have to act. * Journal of Urban Design and Mental Health *More than ever, we need the places where we live, work and play to support our mental health. For those creating the built environment, Restorative Cities offers deep health expertise translated into the practical strategies that respond to today's demand for cities that prioritise their residents' health. * Joanna Frank, President & CEO, Center for Active Design *Post-Covid 19, cities must be equitable and sustainable, and people should live more healthily and happily. Restorative Cities shows how we can do this, by focussing urbanism on mental health and wellbeing. * Gil Penalosa, Founder and Chair of 8 80 Cities, Ambassador for World Urban Parks *Timely ... A useful contribution to the interdisciplinary nature of urban design. * Urban Design Group *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgements 1. Introduction to Restorative Urbanism 2. The Green City 3. The Blue City 4. The Sensory City 5. The Neighbourly City 6. The Active City 7. The Playable City 8. The Inclusive City 9. The Restorative City References Index

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Book SynopsisBerlin has proved to be an active stage for all the most important social transformations since the 20th century, marking a blurred boundary between Baroque and contemporary, within which fervent cultural and intellectual seasons, plans for massive industrialisation, World Wars, the establishment of schools of architecture and modern thought destined to make history have taken hold. A veritable laboratory of urban planning and architecture in continuous evolution, which still today constitutes a composite landscape of experiments in social urban planning, of mending the urban fabric between east and west, of places of representation of ministries, embassies and parliament between the Tiergarten and the Spree, of redesigning public space according to the model of critical reconstruction as can be seen at Bundeshauptsadt, Postdamer Platz and Friedrichstadt to which the major exponents of international modern architecture have contributed, and of building a cultural planning whose highest expression is the Museum Island, the most famous museum complex in the world.

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