Search results for ""Author Frederick R. Steiner""

“Community and regional planning involve thinking ahead and formally envisioning the future for ourselves and others,” according to Frederick R. Steiner. “Improved plans can lead to healthier, safer, and more beautiful places to live for us and other species. We can also plan for places that are more just and more profitable. Plans can help us not only to sustain what we value but also to transcend sustainability by creating truly regenerative communities, that is, places with the capacity to restore, renew, and revitalize their own sources of energy and materials.”In Making Plans, Steiner offers a primer on the planning process through a lively, firsthand account of developing plans for the city of Austin and the University of Texas campus. As dean of the UT School of Architecture, Steiner served on planning committees that addressed the future growth of the city and the university, growth that inevitably overlapped because of UT’s central location in Austin. As he walks readers through the planning processes, Steiner illustrates how large-scale planning requires setting goals and objectives, reading landscapes, determining best uses, designing options, selecting courses for moving forward, taking actions, and adjusting to changes. He also demonstrates that planning is an inherently political, sometimes messy, act, requiring the intelligence and ownership of the affected communities. Both wise and frank, Making Plans is an important philosophical and practical statement on planning by a leader in the field.

Read more less

"The Living Landscape" is a manifesto, resource, and textbook for architects, landscape architects, environmental planners, students, and others involved in creating human communities. Since its first edition, published in 1990, it has taught its readers how to develop new built environments while conserving natural resources. No other book presents such a comprehensive approach to planning that is rooted in ecology and design. And no other book offers a similar step-by-step method for planning with an emphasis on sustainable development. This second edition of "The Living Landscape" offers Frederick Steiner's design-oriented ecological methods to a new generation of students and professionals." The Living Landscape" offers: a systematic, highly practical approach to landscape planning that maximizes ecological objectives, community service, and citizen participation; more than 20 challenging case studies that demonstrate how problems were met and overcome, from rural America to large cities; scores of checklists and step-by-step guides; hands-on help with practical zoning, land use, and regulatory issues; coverage of major advances in GIS technology and global sustainability standards; and, more than 150 illustrations.As Steiner emphasizes throughout this book, all of us have a responsibility to the Earth and to our fellow residents on this planet to plan with vision. We are merely visiting this planet, he notes; we should leave good impressions.

Read more less

This trailblazing book outlines a tested interdisciplinary "process model" for urban design. Its goal is not to explain how to design a specific city precinct or public space, but to describe useful steps to approach the transformation of urban spaces. "Urban Ecological Design" illustrates the different stages in which the process is organized, using theories, techniques, images, and case studies. The authors believe that environmental concerns demand that ecological and sustainability issues are addressed in urban design. It is, after all, the urban designer who helps to orchestrate human relationships with other living organisms in the built environment. The overall objective of the book is to reinforce the role of the urban designer as an honest broker and promoter of design processes and as an active agent of social creativity in the production of the public realm.

Read more less

". . . as we anticipate the world of the twenty-first century,landscape architecture is at a crossroads. If the disciplineembraces ecological design and planning, then it has a leadershiprole in contemporary society throughout the world. If landscapearchitecture, however, turns inward and ignores its largerresponsibility to the public good, then it will become marginalizedand less relevant." --George F. Thompson and Frederick R.Steiner. The essays contained in this book are written by a cross section ofthe most respected teachers and prac-titioners of landscape designfrom around the globe. Ecological Design and Planning offers aunique opportunity to learn about the latest thinking and practicesin the art and science of ecological landscape design from suchleading lights as Michael Laurie, Carol Franklin, Laurie Olin,Elizabeth Meyer, Mark Johnson, and Ian McHarg. The common thread that runs through these essays is the authors'conviction that the growing rift in landscape design--ecology vs.aesthetics--is an artificial one. Each author expresses abidingconcern for the ecological preservation and enhancement of thesite, while demonstrating clearly--with both words andpictures--that the best designs are those that harmonize aestheticform and ecological function. Ecological Design and Planning is asource of ideas and inspiration for landscape architects andplanners, architects, and all those who understand the importanceof designing with nature. "It is high time that we citizens of the world begin to understandthat our situation on earth is not one in which nature must ruleover culture, or culture over nature, as if one can separate thetwo in the first place. It is high time to reflect upon thegeographies and landscape histories of the past throughout theworld so that we can bring forward--again--the concept that only bydesigning and planning with nature and culture can we begin to healthe landscapes and places of everyday existence--urban, rural, andwild--in environmental and aesthetic terms. 'God's own junkyard'need not continue to dominate our public landscapes, nor our ownbackyards and city streets." --George F. Thompson and Frederick R.Steiner New essays by: James Corner, Carol Franklin, Mark Johnson, MichaelLaurie, Ian L. McHarg, Elizabeth Meyer, Forster Ndubisi, LaurieOlin, Claire Reiniger, Sally Shauman, Meto Voom, and Joan HirschmanWoodward. Photographs by Steve Martino

Read more less

This trailblazing book outlines a tested interdisciplinary "process model" for urban design. Its goal is not to explain how to design a specific city precinct or public space, but to describe useful steps to approach the transformation of urban spaces. "Urban Ecological Design" illustrates the different stages in which the process is organized, using theories, techniques, images, and case studies. The authors believe that environmental concerns demand that ecological and sustainability issues are addressed in urban design. It is, after all, the urban designer who helps to orchestrate human relationships with other living organisms in the built environment. The overall objective of the book is to reinforce the role of the urban designer as an honest broker and promoter of design processes and as an active agent of social creativity in the production of the public realm.

Read more less

Lewis Mumford, one of the most respected public intellectuals of the twentieth century, speaking at a conference on the future environments of North America, said, “In order to secure human survival we must transition from a technological culture to an ecological culture.” In Ecohumanism and the Ecological Culture, William Cohen shows how Mumford’s conception of an educational philosophy was enacted by Mumford’s mentee, Ian McHarg, the renowned landscape architect and regional planner at the University of Pennsylvania. McHarg advanced a new way to achieve an ecological culture―through an educational curriculum based on fusing ecohumanism to the planning and design disciplines. Cohen explores Mumford’s important vision of ecohumanism—a synthesis of natural systems ecology with the myriad dimensions of human systems, or human ecology―and how McHarg actually formulated and made that vision happen. He considers the emergence of alternative energy systems and new approaches to planning and community development to achieve these goals.The ecohumanism graduate curriculum should become the basis to train the next generation of planners and designers to lead us into the ecological culture, thereby securing the educational legacy of both Lewis Mumford and Ian McHarg.

Read more less

Brings together a series of short essays that reveal the full range of Ian McHarg's thoughts on design and nature. It is an ideal reader for undergraduate and graduate students in planning and landscape architecture.

Read more less

Lewis Mumford, one of the most respected public intellectuals of the twentieth century, speaking at a conference on the future environments of North America, said, “In order to secure human survival we must transition from a technological culture to an ecological culture.” In Ecohumanism and the Ecological Culture, William Cohen shows how Mumford’s conception of an educational philosophy was enacted by Mumford’s mentee, Ian McHarg, the renowned landscape architect and regional planner at the University of Pennsylvania. McHarg advanced a new way to achieve an ecological culture―through an educational curriculum based on fusing ecohumanism to the planning and design disciplines. Cohen explores Mumford’s important vision of ecohumanism—a synthesis of natural systems ecology with the myriad dimensions of human systems, or human ecology―and how McHarg actually formulated and made that vision happen. He considers the emergence of alternative energy systems and new approaches to planning and community development to achieve these goals.The ecohumanism graduate curriculum should become the basis to train the next generation of planners and designers to lead us into the ecological culture, thereby securing the educational legacy of both Lewis Mumford and Ian McHarg.

Read more less

To Heal the Earth provides a larger framework and a new perspective on McHarg's work that brings to light the growth and development of his key ideas over a forty year period. It is an important contribution to the literature, and will be essential reading for students and scholars of ecological planning, as well as for professional planners and landscape architects.

Read more less

Humans have always been influenced by natural landscapes, and always will be, even as we create ever-larger cities and our developments fundamentally change the nature of the earth around us. In Human Ecology, noted city planner and landscape architect Frederick Steiner encourages us to consider how human cultures have been shaped by natural forces, and how we might use this understanding to contribute to a future where both nature and people thrive. Human ecology is the study of the interrelationships between humans and their environment, drawing on diverse fields from biology and geography to sociology, engineering, and architecture. Steiner admirably synthesizes these perspectives through the lens of landscape architecture, a discipline that requires its practitioners to consciously connect humans and their environments. After laying out eight principles for understanding human ecology, the book's chapters build from the smallest scale of connection, our homes, and expand to community scales, regions, nations, and, ultimately, examine global relationships between people and nature. In this age of climate change, a new approach to planning and design is required to envision a liveable future. Human Ecology provides architects, landscape architects, urban designers, and planners, and students in those fields, with timeless principles for new, creative thinking about how their work can shape a vibrant, resilient future for ourselves and our planet.

Read more less

The new student edition of the definitive reference on urban planning and design Planning and Urban Design Standards, Student Edition is the authoritative and reliable volume designed to teach students best practices and guidelines for urban planning and design. Edited from the main volume to meet the serious student's needs, this Student Edition is packed with more than 1,400 informative illustrations and includes the latest rules of thumb for designing and evaluating any land-use scheme--from street plantings to new subdivisions. Students find real help understanding all the practical information on the physical aspects of planning and urban design they are required to know, including: * Plans and plan making * Environmental planning and management * Building types * Transportation * Utilities * Parks and open space, farming, and forestry * Places and districts * Design considerations * Projections and demand analysis * Impact assessment * Mapping * Legal foundations * Growth management preservation, conservation, and reuse * Economic and real estate development Planning and Urban Design Standards, Student Edition provides essential specification and detailing information for various types of plans, environmental factors and hazards, building types, transportation planning, and mapping and GIS. In addition, expert advice guides readers on practical and graphical skills, such as mapping, plan types, and transportation planning.

Read more less