The Best-laid Plans

The Best-laid Plans PDF Author: Randal O'Toole
Publisher: Cato Institute
ISBN: 1933995076
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
Drawing on 30 years of experience reviewing hundreds of government plans, Randal O'Toole shows that, thanks to government planners, American cities are choked with congestion, major American housing markets have become unaf-fordable, and the cost of government infrastructure is spiraling out of control. The book makes the case for repeal of federal planning laws and closure of gov-ernment planning offices. Every American who worries about the insidious growth of the Nanny State must read this book.

The Best-laid Plans

The Best-laid Plans PDF Author: Randal O'Toole
Publisher: Cato Institute
ISBN: 1933995076
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
Drawing on 30 years of experience reviewing hundreds of government plans, Randal O'Toole shows that, thanks to government planners, American cities are choked with congestion, major American housing markets have become unaf-fordable, and the cost of government infrastructure is spiraling out of control. The book makes the case for repeal of federal planning laws and closure of gov-ernment planning offices. Every American who worries about the insidious growth of the Nanny State must read this book.

Costs of Sprawl

Costs of Sprawl PDF Author: Reid Ewing
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317240022
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
Across the nation, the debate over metropolitan sprawl and its impact has become pivotal to urban planning. A decade and a half ago, Smart Growth America and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sought to raise the level of the debate by sponsoring groundbreaking research to quantitatively measure sprawl and its quality-of-life impacts. The resulting measures are widely used in urban research and public health. Costs of Sprawl provides a panoramic guide to urban form in America, measures sprawl for metropolitan areas, urbanized areas, and counties, and studies the relationship between sprawl and quality-of-life outcomes. From this preliminary investigation, it looks like the costs of sprawl are varied and substantial, and the alternative of compact development is far superior. An essential read for researchers, planners, urban designers, policy makers, and smart growth advocates in the U.S. and abroad, this book provides a comprehensive and detailed analysis of one of the most critical issues in planning today.

Global Suburbs

Global Suburbs PDF Author: Lawrence Herzog
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317745108
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
Global Suburbs: Urban Sprawl from the Rio Grande to Rio de Janeiro offers a critical new perspective on the emerging phenomenon of the global suburb in the western hemisphere. American suburban sprawl has created a giant human habitat stretching from Las Vegas to San Diego, and from Mexico to Brazil, presented here in a clear and comprehensive style with in depth descriptions and images. Challenging the ecological problems that stem from these flawed suburban developments, Herzog targets an often overlooked and potentially disastrous global shift in urban development. This book will give depth to courses on suburbs, development, urban studies, and the environment.

Fresh Kills

Fresh Kills PDF Author: Martin V. Melosi
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231548354
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 576

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Book Description
Fresh Kills—a monumental 2,200-acre site on Staten Island—was once the world’s largest landfill. From 1948 to 2001, it was the main receptacle for New York City’s refuse. After the 9/11 attacks, it reopened briefly to receive human remains and rubble from the destroyed Twin Towers, turning a notorious disposal site into a cemetery. Today, a mammoth reclamation project is transforming the landfill site, constructing an expansive park three times the size of Central Park. Martin V. Melosi provides a comprehensive chronicle of Fresh Kills that offers new insights into the growth and development of New York City and the relationship among consumption, waste, and disposal. He traces the metamorphoses of the landscape, following it from salt marsh to landfill to cemetery and looks ahead to the future park. By centering the problem of solid-waste disposal, Melosi highlights the unwanted consequences of mass consumption. He presents the Fresh Kills space as an embodiment of massive waste, linking consumption to the continuing presence of its discards. Melosi also uses the landfill as a lens for understanding Staten Island’s history and its relationship with greater New York City. The first book on the history of the iconic landfill, Fresh Kills unites environmental, political, and cultural history to offer a reflection on material culture, consumer practices, and perceptions of value and worthlessness.

The Road More Traveled

The Road More Traveled PDF Author: Sam Staley
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 0742566099
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 207

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Book Description
Though often dismissed as a minor if irritating nuisance, congestion's insidious effects constrain our personal and professional lives, making it harder to find a good job, spend time with our family, and maintain profitable businesses. After centuries of building our cities into bustling centers of commerce and culture, we are beginning to slow down. The Road More Traveled shines a new light on the problem of traffic congestion in this easily accessible book. You'll learn how we can reclaim our mobility if we are willing to follow successful examples from overseas, where innovations in infrastructure and privatization have made other nations stronger and more competitive. By thoroughly debunking the myths that keep our policy makers trapped in traffic, the book argues that we can and should build our way out of congestion and into a fast-paced future.

The Urban Condition

The Urban Condition PDF Author: Brendan Gleeson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136678557
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
This book will speak to the new human epoch, the Urban Age. A majority of humanity now lives for the first time in cities. The city, the highest invention of the modern age, is now the human heartland. And yet the same process that brought us the city and its wonders, modernisation, has also thrown up challenges and threats, especially climate change, resource depletion, social division and economic insecurity. This book considers how these threats are encountered and countered in the urban age, focusing on the issue of human knowledge and self-awareness, just as Hannah Arendt’s influential The Human Condition did half a century ago. The Human Condition is now The Urban Condition. And it is this condition that will define human prospects in an age of default and risk. Gleeson expertly explores the concept through three main themes. The first is an exploration of what defines the current human condition, especially the expanding cities that are at the heart of an over-consumptive world economic order. The second exposes and reviews the reawakening of forms of knowledge (‘naturalism’) that are likely to worsen not improve our comprehension of the crisis. The new ‘science of urbanism’ in popular new literature exemplifies this dangerous trend. The third and last part of the book considers prospects for a new urban, and therefore human, dispensation, ‘The Good City’. We must first journey in our urban vessels through troubled times. But can we now start to plot the way to new shores, to a safer, more resilient city that provides for human flourishing? The Urban Condition attempts this ideal, conceiving a new urbanism based on the old idea of self-limitation. The Urban Condition is an original, timely book that reconsiders and redeploys Arendt’s famous notion of The Human Condition in an age of cities and risk. It brings together several important strands of human consideration, urbanisation, climate threat, resource depletion, economic default and critical knowledge and weaves them into a new analysis of the times. It also looks to a future that is nearly with us—of changed climate, resource scarcity and economic stress. The book journeys into these troubled times, proposing the idea of Lifeboat Cities as a way of thinking about the human journey to come

International Handbook of Urban Policy: Contentious global issues

International Handbook of Urban Policy: Contentious global issues PDF Author: H. S. Geyer
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1847208657
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
This first Handbook in a series of three original reference works looks at globally contentious urban policy issues from a wide variety of different angles and perspectives. Matters related to urban densification, population mobility, urban inequality and sustainability are analysed in a manner that will not only interest the advanced student but also the novice. Urban policy covers a vast field. This first volume combines chapters covering three broad themes: policy issues pertaining to the spatial aspects of the city; social and mobility issues; and issues of urban governance. The spotlight initially falls on urban structure, urban densification, the disappearing urban/rural divide, the urban economic landscape and the transformation of socialist economies. The Handbook then goes on to focus on migration, social mobility, crime, terrorism and social inequality. Finally, urban sustainability and urban governance come under the spotlight. Integration of the planning process, flexibilities in infrastructure and areas of neglect in environmental management feature strongly in this section of the Handbook. Books of this nature are often slanted in one particular direction: however, this Handbook's approach is different. Not only has the editor avoided shying away from politically sensitive issues but contributions have also been included that reflect distinct differences of opinion on politically sensitive issues – hence the volume's subtitle of 'contentious global issues'. As a Handbook, the chapters have been written not only for the advanced student and academics but also with undergraduate students in mind. The Handbook will appeal to scholars and researchers of geography and urban and development planning, demography and social science and environmental scientists for the focus on urban sustainability issues.

Urban Sprawl

Urban Sprawl PDF Author: Gregory D. Squires
Publisher: The Urban Insitute
ISBN: 9780877667094
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
Urban Sprawl is not simply a development that undercuts the quality of life for suburbanites. It has raised alarms across the nation, as fair housing advocates, environmentalists, land use planners, and even many suburban employers who cannot find the workers they need, have recognized that the costs go far beyond aesthetics. Despite the agreement that something needs to be done, there is no consensus on what works. Urban Sprawl: Causes, Consequences, and Policy Responses assembles leading scholars who analyze the major causes and consequences of urban sprawl and the policy initiatives that are being explored in response to these developments.

The Urban Design Reader

The Urban Design Reader PDF Author: Michael Larice
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136205659
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1087

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Book Description
The second edition of The Urban Design Reader draws together the very best of classic and contemporary writings to illuminate and expand the theory and practice of urban design. Nearly 50 generous selections include seminal contributions from Howard, Le Corbusier, Lynch, and Jacobs to more recent writings by Waldheim, Koolhaas, and Sorkin. Following the widespread success of the first edition of The Urban Design Reader, this updated edition continues to provide the most important historical material of the urban design field, but also introduces new topics and selections that address the myriad challenges facing designers today. The six part structure of the second edition guides the reader through the history, theory and practice of urban design. The reader is initially introduced to those classic writings that provide the historical precedents for city-making into the twentieth century. Part Two introduces the voices and ideas that were instrumental in establishing the foundations of the urban design field from the late 1950s up to the mid-1990s. These authors present a critical reading of the design professions and offer an alternative urban design agenda focused on vital and lively places. The authors in Part Three provide a range of urban design rationales and strategies for reinforcing local physical identity and the creation of memorable places. These selections are largely describing the outcomes of mid-century urban design and voicing concerns over the placeless quality of contemporary urbanism. The fourth part of the Reader explores key issues in urban design and development. Ideas about sprawl, density, community health, public space and everyday life are the primary focus here. Several new selections in this part of the book also highlight important international development trends in the Middle East and China. Part Five presents environmental challenges faced by the built environment professions today, including recent material on landscape urbanism, sustainability, and urban resiliency. The final part examines professional practice and current debates in the field: where urban designers work, what they do, their roles, their fields of knowledge and their educational development. The section concludes with several position pieces and debates on the future of urban design practice. This book provides an essential resource for students and practitioners of urban design, drawing together important but widely dispersed writings. Part and section introductions are provided to assist readers in understanding the context of the material, summary messages, impacts of the writing, and how they fit into the larger picture of the urban design field.

Urban Transport Planning and Management

Urban Transport Planning and Management PDF Author: Pratibha Deshmukh
Publisher: SBS Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 494

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Book Description
Transport or Transportation is the movement of people and goods from one location to another. Transportation is performed by various modes, such as air, rail, road and water. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles and operations. Infrastructure consists of the fixed installations necessary for transport and may be roads, railways, airways, waterways, canals and pipelines or terminals such as airports, railway stations, bus stations and seaports. Vehicles travelling on the network include automobiles, bicycles, buses, trains people and aircraft. Transport within urbanised areas presents unique problems. The density of an urban environment can create significant levels of road traffic, which can impact businesses and increase pollution. Parking space is another concern, requiring the construction of large parking garages in high density areas which could be better used for other development. Good planning uses transit oriented development, which attempts to place higher densities of jobs or residents near high-volume transportation. The densities can cause traffic jams for automobiles, yet are too low to be commercially served by trains or light rail systems. The conventional solution is to use buses, but these and light rail systems may fail where automobiles and excess road network capacity are both available, achieving less than 1% ridership. The purpose of this book is to sensitise all to issue of Urban Transport Planning and to discuss the steps which need to be taken by the government and all stakeholders of the transportation. It gives a brief introduction on Transport and Transportation, Networks and Urban Planning. It further showcases how to develop Imported or Intelligent Urban Transport Systems, Problems and Challenges involved in it and at the need for Sustainable Green Urban Transport is discussed.