Editorial Review

In this new work, prizewinning author, professor, and Slate architecture critic Witold Rybczynski returns to the territory he knows best: writing about the way people live, just as he did in the acclaimed bestsellers Home and A Clearing in the Distance. In Makeshift Metropolis, Rybczynski has drawn upon a lifetime of observing cities to craft a concise and insightful book that is at once an intellectual history and a masterful critique.

Makeshift Metropolis describes how current ideas about urban planning evolved from the movements that defined the twentieth century, such as City Beautiful, the Garden City, and the seminal ideas of Frank Lloyd Wright and Jane Jacobs. If the twentieth century was the age of planning, we now find ourselves in the age of the market, Rybczynski argues, where entrepreneurial developers are shaping the twenty-first-century city with mixed-use developments, downtown living, heterogeneity, density, and liveliness. He introduces readers to projects like Brooklyn Bridge Park, the Yards in Washington, D.C., and, further afield, to the new city of Modi’in, Israel—sites that, in this age of resource scarcity, economic turmoil, and changing human demands, challenge our notion of the city.

Erudite and immensely engaging, Makeshift Metropolis is an affirmation of Rybczynski’s role as one of our most original thinkers on the way we live today. ... Read more

Editorial Review

A fascinating guided tour of the ways things work in a modern city

Have you ever wondered how the water in your faucet gets there? Where your garbage goes? What the pipes under city streets do? How bananas from Ecuador get to your local market? Why radiators in apartment buildings clang? Using New York City as its point of reference, The Works takes readers down manholes and behind the scenes to explain exactly how an urban infrastructure operates. Deftly weaving text and graphics, author Kate Ascher explores the systems that manage water, traffic, sewage and garbage, subways, electricity, mail, and much more. Full of fascinating facts and anecdotes, The Works gives readers a unique glimpse at what lies behind and beneath urban life in the twenty-first century. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Reviews

Urban permaculture DIY, September 30, 2008
When searching for books on sustainability its easy to find books heavy on opinion while practical application books are few and far between. This is one of the latter, a very accessible project oriented guide to making changes in the way we act. This book is filled with small scale systems that provides a great starting point for people who want to make actual change in their lives and not just read environmental theory, as great as that may be. The real gem in this book is the well organized bibliography, as many of the projects I would feel more comfortable completing with more detailed background knowledge of the processes going on, which is of course beyond the scope of this publication. Not to downplay the information contained in the book itself, which is awesome.
The key to making change is to make small changes, baby steps, slowly building your new lifestyle. I started with the vermicompostig, which is pretty tame, and moved on from there. Good Luck!

Excellent Resource, However Limited, February 10, 2009
I found "ToolBox.." to be a quick and enjoyable read, however, when it came to the details of implementing described projects I found limited information. Don't get me wrong, I do not regret purchasing the book, I was just expecting more guidance on specific projects. For instance, when I started reading the energy chapter, I got really excited when there was a discussion on a "bicycle wind mill", however, after a brief description of the design, the authors quickly moved on to another idea. I was also hoping for some design ideas utilizing bicycle "human powered" generators or such. Strong points that I will mention about the book, are the really good descriptions of graywater harvesting and filtering systems. In all, very informative, but do not expect it to provide all the answers.

amazing new book on radical sustainability!, July 15, 2008
Wow! I just got this amazing new book written by members of Austin's Rhizome Collective. It's full of highly practical, affordable, and simple designs that can be used by anyone to achieve sustainability in their home, neighborhood or community. There are a number of books on sustainable living, but this one stands apart from the rest - the systems described in it are innovative and unique, many of which I've never come across in any other book. The author's approach to sustainability and permaculture is especially important as they emphasize the interconnectedness between sustainability and social justice, a perspective that is sorely lacking in the movement. Many books sell sustainability as a product, and lead us to believe that our problems can be bought away. Not this one, it cuts away at all that greenwashing propaganda and promotes a genuine, radical sustainability that is accessible to the majority of the people in the world. The introductions to each section are very interesting, giving a general overview of each of its five main sections: Food, Water, Waste, Energy, and Bioremediation (a topic I've never seen covered in anything other than dense,academic texts). The writing is highly informed and intelligent, yet down to earth and accessible.
One of the most standout features of the book is its incredible artwork - done masterfully by Juan Martinez of the Beehive Collective - the book's many vivid illustrations and helpful diagrams make it a joy to read and look through. Highly recommended!

I read this book in one day! I could not put it down!, October 28, 2008
This book is everything it promises. After reading it I felt that I could begin projects that would bring me closer to sustainability.

The explainations and diagrams seemed simple and affordable.

This book is the answer to the question, 'What can I do right now?'

Thank you for this book.

Way, WAY Beyond How-To Tips, February 2, 2009
Wow this little book has a lot of information in it! A lot more than I bargained for, actually. I was interested in doing a little "urban farming" in the form of apartment-gardening and helping friends plant food on the unused hill behind their house, maybe starting a compost heap. But this book covers everything from constructing a homemade "wetland" for filtering household water, to recycling human waste (see the hilarious section on the Mobile Composting Toilet!), and so much more. It's not just about taking small steps to get yourself off the grid, it covers comprehensive ways to move communities off the grid entirely--which, the book explains, may become necessary in the not-so-distant future. Frank and crisp in style, and completely without condescension or hysteria, the book describes in clear terms what we can expect in the future if our current systems persist, and how to start making our homes and communities sustainable, equitable and autonomous. While I can't see myself putting all of it to use (there is a section on cultivating insects for chicken feed, making me relieved to retreat into vegetarianism), I felt vastly more aware when I'd finished it, in addition to learning a few things I will try.

Chapters cover all the basics including water storage, conservation, and much more, November 15, 2008
With over half the world's population residing in cities, TOOLBOX FOR SUSTAINABLE CITY LIVING becomes more important than ever, providing step-by-step instructions for city dwellers on how to manage waste, reclaim land, and generate energy using cheap, recycled materials. From composting to graywater discharge, chapters cover all the basics including water storage, conservation, and much more.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Ideas for and strategies and techniques to create a sustainable urban environment, September 22, 2010
Here's the rub: a city dweller, especially an apartment dweller, is almost always using fewer resources to heat and cool their homes. We (yes, I'm a city dweller) have more options for public transportation and we also tend to walk more. But our spaces aren't nearly as green (literally, green), and many of our buildings tend to be inefficiently constructed. We also tend not to have as much access to fresh produce, if for no other reason than that our soils are deficient and sometimes toxic. It's very easy to feel impotent to change any of these things when we are "city-locked".

This guide is for people who already see the need to make a change. Although they provide some information as to why city dwellers and everyone else should try to live sustainably, it's not exhaustive. However, they do give some information that isn't common knowledge (or at least getting talked about as much). I didn't realize the extent to which urban soils were depleted, and I didn't realize that we were going to approach "peak uranium" in 50 years at the rate we're going. Not that I was ever a proponent of nuclear power, but now the building of new nuclear power plants seems even more ridiculous. Also, although everyone is going to be squeamish when it comes to the subject of human waste, it's pretty hard to deny the need to do something along those lines when the authors explain how inefficient, wasteful and polluting the current sewage process is.

The book is divided into strategies and techniques for Food, Water, Waste, Energy and Bioremediation (bringing soils back to life). I'm not the expert, but it seemed that they tried to list out solutions that could work reasonably well in an urban environment on a small scale. And sometimes not that small- the bathtub setup that they explain for rain water purification seems doable but heavy duty to me. You might also have to gulp a little bit before you do things like purify and use used vegetable oil as biodiesel for your car. Not a big production, but something that needs to be done with extra care to make sure you don't damage your car.

I sighed as I read this. Because I lack an independent outdoors space, many of these solutions are not accessible for me. However, it inspires me to continue the things I can do in my community, like composting and community gardening. I'm also now on the lookout for like minded friends who want to join me on some of the bigger projects, like rainwater capture and greywater recycling.

Yes, there are some politics here, and it seems that the authors assume you're already on the same page with them. It is also more than a little survivalist, and sophisticated urban dwellers who have easy access to finished goods might not buy into it. However, it seems that the ultimate argument they are using is that the energy resources we have come to depend on are dwindling faster than we can manage, and we need to change now. They got a thumbs up from me when they noted that the the "green consumerism" movement isn't going to get us out of our current problems. If you don't agree with that, this really isn't the book for you.

I would have liked to have seen more examples of the integrated systems in action. Not that we should have a blueprint for how to do it, but seeing how it has worked can be inspiring.

Hard-core, yet practical, July 12, 2009
Kudos to the authors. They are trying new things, getting their hands dirty in their attempts to live sustainably in the city. It's an important topic, and while the book is not comprehensive, it covers a lot of useful information. It's well-written, and technically accurate. I am currently writing my own book on sustainability, and this is one of my most important resources.

Yes we can! -- Best intro book I've read on sustainable living, February 21, 2009
I've read a lot of books on being green and living lightly on the earth and I've found the Toolbox for Sustainable City Living (TfSCL) to be one of the best and most comprehensive intro books on sustainable living, especially in the cities where more than 50% of the world's people live. So many other books strike a tone that makes me feel hopeless and intimidated, especially because I am not likely to ever have 3 acres of land for a Mother Earth News style homestead.

Yet, the condition of the world's economy and the effects of peak oil clearly show that the time to act is now!

Scott and Stacy have a style and the content that makes me feel ready to try things like vermicomposting. Yes, it's true that there are only 3.5 pages on vermicomposting in the book and I still have a lot to learn from the references noted in the Toolbox for Sustainable City Living. Yet, the motivation to get up and try it is really important. In fact, I'm planning to buy worms today! :)

Also, Scott and Stacy offer workshops called Radical Urban Sustainability Training (R.U.S.T.). My husband and I attended one in Albany, NY last Fall and we highly recommend it!

Great Book, June 20, 2009
I ordered this book and poured myself into it reading and rereading it. The authors are very creative in the ideas of this book. Additionally they presented the social impact of revitalizing areas. I had never considered the effects of rehabbing an area only for it to be taken over by those who had avoided it in the first place.

I would be very interested in reading more from the authors or anything from the Rhizome Collective. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Everyone is calling for smart growth...but what exactly is it? In The Smart Growth Manual, two leading city planners provide a thorough answer. From the expanse of the metropolis to the detail of the window box, they address the pressing challenges of urban development with easy-to-follow advice and broad array of best practices.

With their landmark book Suburban Nation, Andres Duany and Jeff Speck "set forth more clearly than anyone has done in our time the elements of good town planning" (The New Yorker). With this long-awaited companion volume, the authors have organized the latest contributions of new urbanism, green design, and healthy communities into a comprehensive handbook, fully illustrated with the built work of the nation's leading practitioners.

"The Smart Growth Manual is an indispensable guide to city planning. This kind of progressive development is the only way to fully restore our economic strength and create new jobs, new industries, and a renewed ability to compete in the first rank of world economies." -- Gavin Newsom, Mayor of San Francisco

"Authors Andres Duany, Jeff Speck, and Mike Lydon have created The Smart Growth Manual, a resource which not only explains the overarching ideals of smart growth, but a manual that takes the time to show smart growth principles at each geographic scale (region, neighborhood, street, building). I highly recommend [it] as a part of any community participant’s or urban planner’s desktop references." -- LocalPlan.org ... Read more

Reviews

Review from LocalPlan.org, November 19, 2009
[...].

Authors Andres Duany, Jeff Speck, and Mike Lydon have created The Smart Growth Manual, a resource which not only explains the overarching ideals of smart growth, but a manual that takes the time to show smart growth principles at each geographic scale (region, neighborhood, street, building). The Smart Growth Manual bounces back and forth (in a beautifully organized manner) between steps for the implementation of smart growth and key concepts. The format of The Smart Growth Manual allows for each concept to be referenced and reviewed quickly (each concept is explained in about half a page).

I found The Smart Growth Manual to be the type of reference that you would throw in your bag before heading to your community association meeting or grab on your way to a city council hearing about a new development. The information is presented in such a simplistic, uncluttered format that you can use it almost like a dictionary. Instead of wondering whether a particular idea really is smart growth you can flip to it in the manual and understand how the concept would work and how it relates to other principles of smart growth. More importantly it can be used to better articulate community goals through providing an accessible guide to smart growth in an attainable format for charrettes, community meetings, etc.

To make The Smart Growth Manual all the more enticing, the pages are printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper and it's pretty much pocket sized (so you don't have to lug around yet another huge manual in addition to ordinances and the like). The pages feature vivid illustrations and photographs of each concept so it's not a struggle to understand or explain a concept. I highly recommend The Smart Growth Manual as a part of any community participant's or urban planner's desktop references.

Delightful, January 6, 2010
This is a great reference manual for those in the design and development worlds as well as a great introduction and reasonably quick education for those who are first being exposed to the principals of Smart Growth. A very comprehensive 'list' of principals and design considerations that EVERY project would do well to take into consideration. This book is delightful in can be easily understood while not skimping on content. Highly recommended.

Both Sides Thumbs Up, December 1, 2009
This book is likely to change things. It works from both sides: for planners and politicians to teach themselves and others, and for citizens concerned about what planners might do. It will help planners get new visions across. And help them ease valid citizen concerns and even NIMBY concerns. It conveys concepts by showing reality ... which sounds very good no matter what side you are on. I studied urban planning 30+ years ago and walked away from it as it seemed more wrong than right. This book will go a long way to making things right.

Indispensable Planning Tool, January 20, 2010
Finally, after a dozen years of discussion about sprawl versus smart growth, the definitive manual is here. Andrés Duany, Jeff Speck and Mike Lydon have written an artfully concise, universally accessible handbook that balances basic concepts with complex details. The book mixes substantial "best planning practice" and development wisdom with brilliant insight. It proves (by describing observable cause and effect), that championing smart growth will result in highly livable places that are also environmentally and economically sustainable.

Each page-long tutorial features a title, a half-page of understandable text and an illustrative photograph or diagram. The subjects are rationally organized by scale, from the region to the neighborhood to the lot and building. The rural to urban transect is described near the beginning as an organizing system for planning. Like the transect itself, the book integrates environmental, design, building development and financial concerns.

The United States has long needed a "how to" catalogue for growth that can also serve to measure the quality of development. This book is it. If followed, it could literally change the American landscape and our long-term future for success.

"The Smart Growth Manual" should be distributed nationwide to elected officials, governments, developers, planners, architects and community activists.

Supremely useful--with a few suggestions for the next edition, April 16, 2010
Duany and company are architects so their focus on design is highly useful. Echoing other on-the-ball reviewers here, the book is very well organized, easy to follow and leads directly to application.

If the authors ever read customer comments, I would like to suggest the following should the book be updated:

1. Our country's population is growing, but it also aging. Over the next 20 years, the aging of the population may be more significant to planners than "just" growth (which is inevitable, despite the silly claims of other reviewers). There has to be a "Smart Aging" perspective this country needs to adopt because older Americans have different needs--not lesser needs, different needs that should be addressed.

2. Include a section on the behavioral side of Smart Growth--while a necessary component of getting people out of their cars, design by itself is insufficient to get people out of their cars. What incentives, what kind of education and outreach needs to take place for the public and, perhaps most importantly, elected officials. Most local officials aren't particularly brave. They need help.

Laudable Intentions!, February 4, 2010
This book's laudable objective is to present, very specifically, how smart growth can actually be implemented. A considerable number of elements are presented, some very detailed, in fact similar to building standards, others very general that would be difficult to apply as such. The book is structured in four sections: regions, neighbourhoods, streets and buildings. Strangely for a work with a pro-urban standpoint, downtowns are not treated as such, although passing references are made here and there.

Odd editorial choices were made with respect to the book's production. First, doubtlessly to project a green image, the fibre-packed paper used is very obviously recycled _ as was current when recycling first was introduced decades ago. This leads to a very poor printing quality of the colour photographs _ which are perhaps not all that artistic and telling in the first place. Second, the book is pocket-size, presumably so that it can be easily carried to meetings. This of course restricts importantly the space available for text. As each item is covered on a single page and each is illustrated with a photograph, needless to say that content is not very elaborate. Third, pages are not numbered, most likely to avoid confusion with the hierarchy of the items presented (1.1, 1.2, etc.). This actually makes consulting the book a bit confusing as these section numbers are not written on the right-hand page corners.

At the end of the book, several pages are devoted to listing the addresses of various local groups devoted to the promotion of smart growth in the United States. This list, of course, is liable to being quickly outdated. So, why not refer to a single Web site?

Actually, why not replace the whole book with a Web site where references to other sources could be liberally provided? With BlackBerries and iPhones, its portability would not be reduced and it could constantly be improved and updated.

Not yet there, December 3, 2010
As a young planner among many other specialties, I find it very difficult to rate the work of my seniors this way. Nonetheless, I believe constructive criticism betters our unified quest to make the world a better place.

First of all, I spent roughly 30 minutes reading this book and not any longer. I bought this book not because I did not know what "smart growth" is, but because I wanted to read the perspectives of my respected seniors. I am however disappointment that the authors could not distinguish between traditional neighborhood development and smart-growth. Essentially, when it was time to define smart-growth, they restated the characteristics of traditional neighborhoods and nothing more - so are we then saying traditional neighborhoods like Georgetown described by the authors in their earlier book, Suburban Nation have smart growth? As planners, we shouldn't just think the use of `new' words and jargons for existing and already defined problems defines any new thing. We are only re-creating more contradiction and confusion.

Today, I hear words like sprawl repair and so on to be gaining momentum; in essence all these `fancy' words are nothing but mere derivatives of urban renewal.

My disappointment is summed up in section 5.10 of the book where the authors write (commenting on Housing Density): "The D word is a contentious issue among planners and citizens. High density is too often seen as a panacea to the ills of sprawl, when in fact it is only one of the many factors contributing to smart growth......." They further postulate Manhattan to be the most sustainable place in America and then contradict themselves by saying that since many people prefer the American Dream of a house on its own yard; municipalities must allow such houses to be built as part of diverse neighborhoods.

My question is what do we consider diverse? I believe the authors mean mixed-zoned neighborhoods. If that were true, then the argument is flawed and short-sighted. Urban sustainability, which really is the crux of smart growth, is beyond land use zoning and compact cities. It includes social health and capital viability of the neighborhoods. In reality, we find many people who work in Manhattan prefer to live in New Jersey cities of Hoboken, Newark and surroundings simply because Manhattan is not sustainable for them. They cannot afford to live there! Whereas there are readily available public transportation systems and so on, they are ridiculously expensive. At the same time, those that are able to live in Manhattan prefer to spend the weekends enjoying the serene ambience of their proper country side homes.

The smart growth manual is useful but not authoritative (to say the least)
... Read more

Editorial Review

Eugenics, racial thinking, and white supremacist attitudes influenced even the federal government's actions toward housing in the 20th century, dooming American cities to ghettoization. The Federal Housing Administration continued discriminatory housing policies even into the 1960s, long after civil rights legislation. This all-American tale is told through the prism of Baltimore, from its early suburbanization in the 1880s to the consequences of white flight after World War II, and into the first decade of the twenty-first century. The events are real, and so are the heroes and villains. Mr. Pietila's narrative centers on the human side of residential real estate practices, whose discriminatory tools were the same everywhere: restrictive covenants, redlining, blockbusting, predatory lending. ... Read more

Reviews

Great history of Baltimore housing, March 31, 2010
Antero Pietila has written one of the best history books on the city of Baltimore. His attention to detail on incidents, people and the struggles of the past that have shaped the current city is remarkable. Once I picked the book up, I could not put it down. He covers many of the famous neighborhoods of Baltimore and describes how segregation shaped the city. He explains the migration from white to jewish to black in many neighborhoods and how exploitation created the slums in Baltimore. I highly recommend the book to any one who is interested in our local and national history.

A sharply critical, exhaustively researched, and absolutely invaluable analysis, April 15, 2010
Not In My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped a Great American City is a revealing expose about how bigotry and residential segregation impacted Baltimore's development - as well as that of America at large, using Baltimore as a mirror to reflect national trends. From how public discrimination shifted to focus especially upon African-Americans and Jews in the late nineteenth century onward, to the racially biased housing policies enacted by the Federal Housing Administration up to the 1960s, to the consequences of white flight after World War II, and much more, Not In My Neighborhood examines the overall paradigm of human behavior and its deleterious consequences resounding up to the present day and beyond. A sharply critical, exhaustively researched, and absolutely invaluable analysis, Not In My Neighborhood is the most important kind of history book - the history that must be studied so that its mistakes are not repeated (and that so solutions to difficult problems can be worked upon for the future)! Highly recommended.

Moving The Color Line, July 14, 2010
What a fine book--Not In My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped A Great American City by Antero Pietila. I intended to do a quick read but ended up doing a SLOW one--highlighting the book extensively and identifying in a Baltimore mapbook every street location and neighborhood Pietila discusses. I found it to be a highly informative case study, one that has been replicated in cities across America, about how whites, aided by politicians, bankers, realtors, zoning officials, the FHA, churches, and other groups, fought the encroachment of African-Americans into their neighborhoods, and the methods blockbusters used to drive whites out and provide housing and financing for blacks, all the while filling their own coffers. But Not In My Neighborhood is not a textbook. Pietila not only tracks the movement of minorities through urban neighborhoods over many generations, he details the histories of the people involved and tells the most interesting stories about them. After all, Pietila spent thirty-five years with the Baltimore Sun, covering the city's neighborhoods, politics, and government, so he knows where the bones are buried, and he tells all. This book is as much fun as fiction.

Entertaining and Enlightening, July 3, 2010
I enjoyed the book very much but don't know how enlightening it would be for someone not from the local area. Certainly many of the instances of prejudice and segregation cited would be understandable almost anywhere, but the local references were particularly relatable. I've shared it with my neighbor, a retired real estate salesperson, and plan to send it on or recommend it to any number of family and friends. I sort ot wished there had been space for a few more maps of specific neighborhoods. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Editorial Review

Imagine a world in which the excess energy from one business would be used to heat another. Where buildings need less and less energy around the world, and where “regenerative” commercial buildings – ones that create more energy than they use – are being designed. A world in which environmentally sound products and processes would be more cost-effective than wasteful ones. A world in which corporations such as Costco, Nike, BP, and countless others are forming partnerships with environmental and social justice organizations to ensure better stewardship of the earth and better livelihoods in the developing world. Now, stop imagining – that world is already emerging.

A revolution is underway in today’s organizations. As Peter Senge and his co-authors reveal in The Necessary Revolution, companies around the world are boldly leading the change from dead-end “business as usual” tactics to transformative strategies that are essential for creating a flourishing, sustainable world. There is a long way to go, but the era of denial has ended. Today’s most innovative leaders are recognizing that for the sake of our companies and our world, we must implement revolutionary—not just incremental—changes in the way we live and work.

Brimming with inspiring stories from individuals and organizations tackling social and environmental problems around the globe, THE NECESSARY REVOLUTION reveals how ordinary people at every level are transforming their businesses and communities. By working collaboratively across boundaries, they are exploring and putting into place unprecedented solutions that move beyond just being “less bad” to creating pathways that will enable us to flourish in an increasingly interdependent world. Among the stories in these pages are the evolution of Sweden’s “Green Zone,” Alcoa’s water use reduction goals, GE’s ecoimagination initiative, and Seventh Generation’s decision to shift some of their advertising to youth-led social change programs.

At its heart, THE NECESSARY REVOLUTION contains a wealth of strategies that individuals and organizations can use — specific tools and ways of thinking — to help us build the confidence and competence to respond effectively to the greatest challenge of our time. It is an essential guidebook for all of us who recognize the need to act and work together—now—to create a sustainable world, both for ourselves and for the generations to follow. ... Read more

Editorial Review

A celebrated urban historian’s bestselling account of the global explosion of slums.Accordingto the united nations, more than one billion people now live in theslums of the cities of the South. In this brilliant and ambitious book,Mike Davis explores the future of a radically unequal and explosivelyunstable urban world. From the sprawling barricadas ofLima to the garbage hills of Manila, urbanization has been disconnectedfrom industrialization, and even from economic growth. Davis portrays a vasthumanity warehoused in shantytowns and exiled from the formal worldeconomy. He argues that the rise of this informal urban proletariat isa wholly unforeseen development, and asks whether the great slums, as a terrified Victorian middle class onceimagined, are volcanoes waiting to erupt. ... Read more

Editorial Review

This guide summarizes lessons learned by studying successful community-building initiatives in hundreds of neighborhoods across the U.S. It outlines what local communities can do to start their own journies down the path of asset-based development. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Written by the chair of the LEED-Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) initiative, Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design with Nature is both an urgent call to action and a comprehensive introduction to "sustainable urbanism"--the emerging and growing design reform movement that combines the creation and enhancement of walkable and diverse places with the need to build high-performance infrastructure and buildings.

Providing a historic perspective on the standards and regulations that got us to where we are today in terms of urban lifestyle and attempts at reform, Douglas Farr makes a powerful case for sustainable urbanism, showing where we went wrong, and where we need to go. He then explains how to implement sustainable urbanism through leadership and communication in cities, communities, and neighborhoods. Essays written by Farr and others delve into such issues as:

• Increasing sustainability through density.
• Integrating transportation and land use.
• Creating sustainable neighborhoods, including housing, car-free areas, locally-owned stores, walkable neighborhoods, and universal accessibility.
• The health and environmental benefits of linking humans to nature, including walk-to open spaces, neighborhood stormwater systems and waste treatment, and food production.
• High performance buildings and district energy systems.

Enriching the argument are in-depth case studies in sustainable urbanism, from BedZED in London, England and Newington in Sydney, Australia, to New Railroad Square in Santa Rosa, California and Dongtan, Shanghai, China. An epilogue looks to the future of sustainable urbanism over the next 200 years.

At once solidly researched and passionately argued, Sustainable Urbanism is the ideal guidebook for urban designers, planners, and architects who are eager to make a positive impact on our--and our descendants'--buildings, cities, and lives. ... Read more

Editorial Review

A manifesto by America's most controversial and celebrated town planners, proposing an alternative model for community design.

There is a growing movement in North America to put an end to suburban sprawl and to replace the automobile-based settlement patterns of the past fifty years with a return to more traditional planning principles. This movement stems not only from the realization that sprawl is ecologically and economically unsustainable but also from a growing awareness of sprawl's many victims: children, utterly dependent on parental transportation if they wish to escape the cul-de-sac; the elderly, warehoused in institutions once they lose their driver's licenses; the middle class, stuck in traffic for two or more hours each day.

Founders of the Congress for the New Urbanism, Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk are at the forefront of this movement, and in Suburban Nation they assess sprawl's costs to society, be they ecological, economic, aesthetic, or social. It is a lively, thorough, critical lament, and an entertaining lesson on the distinctions between postwar suburbia-characterized by housing clusters, strip shopping centers, office parks, and parking lots-and the traditional neighborhoods that were built as a matter of course until mid-century. It is an indictment of the entire development community, including governments, for the fact that America no longer builds towns. Most important, though, it is that rare book that also offers solutions.
... Read more

Editorial Review

This new edition of Mike Davis’s visionary work gives an update on Los Angeles as the city hits the 21st century.

No metropolis has been more loved or more hated. To its official boosters, "Los Angeles brings it all together." To detractors, LA is a sunlit mortuary where "you can rot without feeling it." To Mike Davis, the author of this fiercely elegant and wide- ranging work of social history, Los Angeles is both utopia and dystopia, a place where the last Joshua trees are being plowed under to make room for model communities in the desert, where the rich have hired their own police to fend off street gangs, as well as armed Beirut militias. 

In City of Quartz, Davis reconstructs LA's shadow history and dissects its ethereal economy. He tells us who has the power and how they hold on to it. He gives us a city of Dickensian extremes, Pynchonesque conspiracies, and a desperation straight out of Nathaniel Westa city in which we may glimpse our own future mirrored with terrifying clarity.

In this new edition, Davis provides a dazzling update on the city's current status.

Reviews

Radical history of Los Angeles, February 25, 2007
Davis is well-known in radical circles as a popular writer on various issues relating to labor movements and the like. This is essentially a history of the city of Los Angeles and its surroundings from a radical perspective. It's quite well-done and very informative (at least to an ignoramus like me), but Davis goes overboard now and then in seeing a conspiracy to repress the poor behind everything. He also has the tendency to call historical incidences of repression a "holocaust" (he actually uses this word multiple times for different things), which I don't like being used in this manner. Aside from that though, it's a welcome different approach from the usual hagiographic or hip postmodern analyses of conglomeration cities like LA. There's not much more I can say about it, as whether you like his left-wing critical vignettes or not will be mostly a matter of taste - judge it for yourself.

city of quartz , new edition, September 19, 2007


City of Quartz, the original version, is an excellent book on the history of Los Angeles until 1989, well readable, informative and incisive, a must-read even if some people take offense at views which are neither mainstream nor conservative.
When you finish the book you are very curious as to how that author would write about the years since 1989.
That book still needs to be written.
But in an extensive foreword to this new edition many aspects of the most recent history of the most fascinating metropolis on the planet are touched, the Watts riots and whatnot; obviously there is much more and whoever follows what Davis writes in journals about Katrina-torn New Orleans and other hot topics, google his books !, can't wait until a new, extensively updated "City of Quartz" will be out.

A provocative (but over-reaching) essay on urban inequality, December 22, 2008
Several years ago I picked this book up on a business trip to L.A. and couldn't put it down. Since then I've become an armchair aficionado of L.A./Southland history and returned to explore the area as often as I can afford. This book has to be compared to the likes of Heidi and Alvin Toffler's "Third Wave" and so forth. It's part essay, part history, and part futurism. As with the "Third Wave" it's full of breathless pronouncements of WHAT HAS BEEN and WHAT WILL BE--except this is more of a dystopian nightmare. Like it or not, L.A. has been the most important city in America--probably the world--since World War Two. This comes thanks to the advent of TV, which sold the world on "fun in the sun." So, if you want to read one grand pronouncement on the darkest possible outcome of modern urban inequality, this is a good one. Just figure it won't turn out as badly as he predicts. Mike Davis is like a stopped clock of the analog variety. He's going to be right twice a day. But it sure is fun to read him going on about it.

Still Too Valid. Davis Milestone for Urban Studies, September 21, 2008
An unfortunate classic for urban studies. It might be all too valid... Actually it might be gaining validity as time progresses...

a great piece of history, March 26, 2007
I knew very little about L.A. This book is actually a history book. I just loved it and it answered many questions I had.

Not Really About L.A......., December 22, 2007
As an avid fan of Los Angeles/Southland history, and having lived there from the early 1960s through the late 1980s, I was eager to get my hands on this book. Sadly, it isn't truly about Los Angeles. The author uses the city as a soapbox to espouse his political view of the world. Any city would do, to be sure. If you want to read a continuous stream of how the "haves" abuse the "have nots", how "power" is always bad and how the ultimate goal of every "majority" is to subjugate every "minority", then have a good read. Don't expect any factual basis or thoughtful analysis, however. This book is just "That's the way it is, thank you very much, and the place has gone to hell."

Order Perfect, July 7, 2009
Book was said to be in 'fair to good' condition: and it is. It's a bit worn, but all good books are. I would definitely buy from this seller again. Thank you.

One of the most boring books I've ever read, February 10, 2008
I caught Mike Davis on an HBO Documentary about gangs in Southern California, and this book was referenced many times. As a resident of Southern California, I was anxious to learn more about the new megalopolis that I now called home.

I anxiously began reading the book, but quickly became disinterested by Mike Davis's relentlessly dry and academic approach in telling the story of Los Angeles. There would be absolutely no mistaking the fact that Mike Davis is an academic, and not a story teller.

The reader is subjected to a million tiny facts about everything that ever happened throughout the history of the city, and by concentrating on every piece of bark on every tree the reader is denied the view of the forrest. It literally felt like this was a book I had to read for some kind of class or homework assignment, and I had to will myself to finish it. I am a voracious reader, but I found this book to be virtually unreadable.

High marks to Mike Davis for the research that must have gone into this book, but low marks for keeping the reader engaged about the material.

Should be shelved in Poli-Sci or Opinion but not History, May 21, 2007
I got this book thinking it was about the social history and architecture of Los Angeles.

Although City Of Quartz does touch upon various events in LA history, it does so only to use those events as a springboard for the author's political writings. Reading it, I got the impression that ANY American city would have brought forth the same opinions.

To sum up: "Wealthy people, Corporations, the Police, and Conservatives are BAD GUYS and are ALWAYS in the wrong. Poor people, Unions, Criminals and Liberals are GOOD GUYS and are ALWAYS in the right. And don't you people realize that the cost of one stealth bomber could pay for 10000 public housing units!?"

The author is certainly entitled to his opinions, but with such a cut-and-dried world view the book quickly becomes boringly predictable. Page after page of "The rich are oppressing the poor, the Whites are oppressing Minorities, the Police are oppressing criminals..." stated as facts - no need for debate - no discussion as to WHY the author feels this way - just a long laundry list of political grievences, and in the end - very little about L.A. history.

If you're interested in Mr. Davis's opinions, this book might be worth a read. But if you're looking for a history book about Los Angeles, look elsewhere. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Editorial Review

Editorial Review

While there has been considerable attention by practitioners and academics to development in urban cores and new neighborhoods on the periphery of cities, there has been little attention to the redesign and redevelopment of existing suburbs. Here is a comprehensive guidebook for architects, planners, urban designers, and developers that illustrates how existing suburbs can be redesigned and redeveloped. The authors, both architects and noted experts on the subject, show how development in existing suburbs can absorb new growth and evolve in relation to changed demographic, technological, and economic conditions.

Retrofitting Suburbia was named winner in the Architecture & Urban Planning category of the 2009 American Publishers Awards for Professional and Scholarly Excellence (The PROSE Awards) awarded by The Professional and Scholarly Publishing (PSP) Division of the Association of American Publishers

Editorial Review

Reviews

Forget the guide books! Take this instead!, January 15, 2003
This book was on the short list of texts my German language/culture study abroad course required. As far as the architectural culture went, this book was all you needed to taste the essence of the capital. It was better than any guide book out there, especially relating the tulmultuous past with what you were seeing with your own eyes as an urban landscape.

Berlin is complex, historically and culturally - from its imperialist days to Hitler's capital to the scarred divided city just now seaming together. Germany is the embodiment of ambiguity - which is made abundantly evident by its very structures throughout the wide city. Brian Ladd's photography is unobtrusive and tasteful, illustrating his thoroughly researched work. He compares an old photograph to one taken recently by him to study, at one point, how unchanged some parts of the city have been in the midst of constant upheaval in the last century.

It is remarkable how entertaining the book is, as well as its vitality in its examination of Berlin. It was, quite simply, such a pleasure to read. The Ghosts of Berlin takes in the large picture, of a country uniting, political ideologies - past and present, and the significance of massive structures - standing and ruined. It also encompasses details in exquisite ordinariness, like street corners, department stores, and public transportation. All this is told in an appealing style that is accessible (so you don't need any background in Germany or Berlin), but not overly casual (Ladd is informed and comprehensive).

A city comes to terms with its past, June 23, 1999
This is a brilliant book that looks at a remarkable city after the fall of the Berlin Wall and asks the question: How to come to terms with the monuments of the past? The Brandenburg Gate? Hitler's Bunker, etc. Should they be torn down, the stories they embody erased? Or should they stand as a legacy of German culture, however tainted it may be. A remarkable book about a remarkable city. Do read it.

If you love Berlin, this is a must book to read, August 4, 1997
Brian Ladd helps the reader to look at Berlin's many monuments and buildings from a critical point of view. He helps one realize that there is more to a city stone and cement. After reading this, you can never again look at any city, Berlin in particular, the same

Makes Me Want To Visit Berlin!, March 5, 2005
I read The Ghosts of Berlin for a college course. When Americans say "this place has such a rich history," it brings a chuckle from me and is reinforced by books such as this.

The book focuses on the last 125 years or so of Berlin's extremely diverse and chaotic past. Ladd writes in a very detailed, yet concise manner. Berlin has had virtually every type of government known to man rule over it and an entire chapter is devoted to the most vital eras in the city's history; namely, the Imperial City from the late 19th century until the end of WWI, the Weimar republic in the '20s, Nazi Germany from 1933-1945, the divided city during the Cold War (with an entire separate chapter dedicated to the the Berlin Wall), and the capital of a reunified Germany. The focus is as much on the changing architectural styles as well as the social and political outlooks of the day. There is much symbolism in the buildings Ladd writes about and we get a great interpretation of what they mean. Ladd illustrates his work with some nice black and white photos, so we do not have to rely on his descriptions alone.

While this book isn't quite a tour book reagarding which restaurants to visit or tourist attractions to avoid, it is a great book to learn about one of the most prominent European cities. So why only four stars instead of five? Well, I did have a deadline to meet and had to rush through this book in about 2 days. Maybe I didn't appreciate as much as I should have.

Interested in Berlin, architecture/urban design, or German history??, August 17, 2005
'The Ghosts of Berlin' was a great overview of the urban history of Berlin. The main argument of the author is that German history is apparent in the urban landscape of Berlin. The book was easy to understand and had a lot of relevant photos and maps to show Berlin throughout the ages. A turnoff about this book for me was that Ladd was repetitive on some points and really drove home his opinions on the many roles the Berlin Wall served (a whole chapter doesnt seem like much on such an important subject, but most of the chapter seemed to repeat and restate the same information). However, in general the book provided a great start for researching the complex history of architecture, city planning, and urban spaces in Berlin. I chose to read this book as research for an architecture project I am designing in Berlin & it proved to be a very good decision. It is especially helpful if you have been to the city and have seen first hand some of the spaces he describes. I would recommend it to anyone with interest in Berlin, architecture, history, or urban design.

A fabulous book, October 13, 2008
This bok shows how great and brilliant is the glorious Berlin. You can understand everything about this city and about the modern world.
An amazing book, no doubt! ... Read more

Editorial Review

Learn about the discipline of emergency management as it has developed over the past six decades, including the rapid evolution of the field since the turn of the century. Haddow, Bullock, and Coppola bring the ideal combination of practical and academic experience to their presentation of disaster preparedness, mitigation, response, recovery and communications. Extensive case studies cover the latest disasters, offering ample opportunity for current students and practitioners to build their critical thinking skills and grow into the next generation of leaders in this increasingly important profession.

* Gives extensive support to instructors, including platform-neutral modules designed for Blackboard and other systems, to support a range of approaches to teaching the material* Introduces the latest methods for empowering disaster survivors, including the use of social networking technologies and community-based initiatives* Adds material on risk management, mitigation, myths that affect behavior during crises, and post-disaster evaluation of the response

Editorial Review

To a young Jane Jacobs, Greenwich Village, with its winding cobblestone streets and diverse makeup, was everything a city neighborhood should be. The activist, writer, and mother of three grew so fond of her bustling community that it became a touchstone for her landmark book The Death and Life of Great American Cities. But consummate power broker Robert Moses, the father of many of New York’s most monumental development projects, saw things differently: neighborhoods such as Greenwich Village were badly in need of “urban renewal.” Notorious for exacting enormous human costs, Moses’s plans had never before been halted–not by governors, mayors, or FDR himself, and certainly not by a housewife from Scranton.

The epic rivalry of Jacobs and Moses, played out amid the struggle for the soul of a city, is one of the most dramatic and consequential in modern American history. In Wrestling with Moses, acclaimed reporter and urban planning policy expert Anthony Flint recounts this thrilling David-and-Goliath story, the legacy of which echoes through our society today.

The first ordinary citizens to stand up to government plans for their city, Jacobs and her colleagues began a nationwide movement to reclaim cities for the benefit of their residents. Time and again, Jacobs marshaled popular support and political power against Moses, whether to block traffic through her beloved Washington Square Park or to prevent the construction of the Lower Manhattan Expressway, a ten-lane elevated superhighway that would have destroyed centuries-old streetscapes and displaced thousands of families and businesses.

Like A Civil Action before it, Wrestling with Moses is the tale of a local battle with far-ranging significance. By confronting Moses and his vision, Jacobs forever changed the way Americans understood the city, and inspired citizens across the country to protest destructive projects in their own communities. Her story reminds us of the power we have as individuals to confront and defy reckless authority. ... Read more

Editorial Review