MAKING CITIES LIVABLE
by Lennard, von Ungern-Sternberg, & Lennard - (How to Make Cities Livable, and Appropriate Strategies for Controlling Urban Sprawl)
TOWARD THE LIVABLE CITY
by Emilie Buchwald - (Strategies for creating successful cities)
A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE
by Philip Langdon - (Reshaping The American Suburb)
URBAN DESIGN, CONSERVATION, AND PRESERVATION
by Nahoum Cohen - (Comprehensive presentation of the wide range of issues involved in urban conservation)
FUNDAMENTALS OF URBAN DESIGN
by Richard Hedman - (A standard reference on urban planning and design)
CRUELTY AND UTOPIA
by Jean Francois Lejeune - (Cities and Landscapes of Latin America)
SMART GROWTH
by Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, & Jeff Speck - (New Urbanism in American Communities)
BUILDING THE 21ST CENTURY HOME
by David Rudlin & Nicholas Falk - (The Sustainable Urban Neighborhood)
COMMON PLACE
by Doug Kelbaugh - (Toward Neighborhood and Regional Design)
THE REGIONAL CITY
by Calthorpe & Fulton - (Planning for the End of Sprawl)
THE NEXT AMERICAN METROPOLIS
by Peter Calthorpe - (Ecology, Community, and the American Dream)
ARCHITECTURE: CHOICE OR FATE
by Leon Krier
THE DEATH AND LIFE OF GREAT AMERICAN CITIES
by Jane Jacobs - (A Classic)
TOWNS AND TOWN MAKING PRINCIPLES
by Andres Duany & Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk
THE SEASIDE DEBATES
(A Critique of the New Urbanism)
THE CITY SHAPED
by Spiro Kostof - (Urban Patterns and Meanings Through History)
THE CITY ASSEMBLED
by Spiro Kostof - (The Elements of Urban Form Through History)
THE CITY SQUARE
by Michael Webb - (A Historical Evolution)
DESIGN OF CITIES
by Edmund Bacon
THE ART OF BUILDING CITIES
by Camillo Sitte - (City Building According to its Artistic Fundamentals)
THE CITY AS A WORK OF ART
by Donald J. Olsen - (London, Paris, Vienna)
LIVABLE CITIES OBSERVED
by Lennard & Lennard - (Excellent survey of cities around the globe, and what makes them livable)
HOW CITIES WORK
by Alex Marshall - (Suburbs, Sprawl, and the Roads Not Taken)
THE CITY IN HISTORY
by Lewis Mumford - (Its Origins, Its Transformations, and Its Prospects)
REDESIGNING CITIES
by Jonathan Barnett - (Principles, Practice, Implementation)
THE IMAGE OF THE CITY
by Kevin Lynch - (One of the most important modern contributions to large-scale design theory)
GOOD CITY FORM
by Kevin Lynch - (A major work exploring city form)
GREAT STREETS
by Allan Jacobs - (Excellent study of the greatest streets from around the world)
THE BOULEVARD BOOK
by Jacobs, MacDonald, & Rofe - (History, Evolution, Design of Multiway Boulevards. Follow up to 'Great Streets')
PLACE MAKING
by Charles Bohl - (Developing Town Centers, Main Streets, and Urban Villages)
COURTYARD HOUSING IN LOS ANGELES
by Stefanos Polyzoides - (A comprehensive study of this wonderful housing type)
HOW BUILDINGS LEARN
by Stewart Brand - (What Happens After They're Built)
THE AMERICAN PORCH
by Michael Dolan - (An Informal History of an Informal Place)
SIDEWALKS IN THE KINGDOM
by Eric O. Jacobsen - (New Urbanism and the Christian Faith)
TRANSIT VILLAGES IN THE 21st CENTURY
by Michael Bernick & Robert Cervero - (Comprehensive study of this exciting trend in land planning, including an extensive history of early American trains & trolleys)
BULLET TRAINS
by Brian Solomon - (A profile of the world's fastest trains)
SUPER-TRAINS
by Joseph Vranich - (Solutions to America's Transportation Gridlock)
NOTHING LIKE IT IN THE WORLD
by Stephen Ambrose - (The men who built the transcontinental railroad 1863-1869)
GETTING THERE
by Stephen Goddard - (The Epic Struggle Between Road and Rail in the American Century)
URBAN TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
by Sigurd Grava - (Comprehensive Analysis of all Forms of Transportation)
BREAKING GRIDLOCK
by Jim Motavalli - (Moving Towards Transportation That Works)
ASPHALT NATION
by Jane Holtz Kay - (How the Automobile Took Over America, and How We Can Take It Back)
DIVORCE YOUR CAR
by Katie Alvord - (Ending the Love Affair with the Automobile)
BEYOND THE AUTOMOBILE
by Tabor Stone - (Reshaping the Transportation Environment)
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
by Van der Ryn & Calthorpe - (A New Design Synthesis for Cities, Suburbs, and Towns)
ECO-CITY DIMENSIONS
by Mark Roseland - (Healthy Communities, Healthy Planet)
ECOLOGICAL DESIGN
by Van Der Ryn & Cowan - (A vision of how the living world and humanity can be reunited by making ecology the basis for design)
ECO-ECONOMY
by Lester R. Brown - (Building a New Economy for the Environmental Age)
STATE OF THE WORLD 2007
by the Worldwatch Institute - (Our Urban Future)
Click here for our featured books
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PUBLICATIONS
NEW URBAN NEWS
THE TOWN PAPER
JOURNAL OF URBAN DESIGN
URBAN DESIGN INTERNATIONAL
PLACES MAGAZINE
TOWN PLANNING REVIEW
THE CLASSICIST
KATARXIS WEBZINE
PRESERVATION MAGAZINE
RAILWAY GAZETTE INTERNATIONAL
TODAY'S RAILWAYS
THE RAILWAY MAGAZINE
TRAMWAYS & URBAN TRANSIT MAGAZINE
THE URBAN ECOLOGY JOURNAL
THE ECOLOGIST
TERRAIN MAGAZINE
SOLAR TODAY MAGAZINE
ENVIRONMENT MAGAZINE
E - THE ENVIRONMENTAL MAGAZINE
WORLD-WATCH MAGAZINE
MOTHER JONES MAGAZINE
METROPOLIS MAGAZINE
CAR-BUSTERS
ADBUSTERS
YES MAGAZINE
EARTH ISLAND JOURNAL
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WEBSITES
SMART TRANSPORTATION
TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT
HIGH-SPEED RAIL
SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION
SMART GROWTH TRANSPORTATION
RECONNECTING AMERICA
TRANSPORTATION PLANET
CALIFORNIA HIGH SPEED RAIL
US RAIL LINKS
SIERRA CLUB TRANSPORTATION SOLUTIONS
SIERRA CLUB SPRAWL CHALLENGE
SIERRA CLUB SPRAWL FACTSHEET
SIERRA CLUB SPRAWL LINKS
SPRAWL WATCH
SMART GROWTH AMERICA
SMART GROWTH
SMART CITY RADIO
RUDI - RESOURCE FOR URBAN DESIGN INFORMATION
THE SUSTAINABILITY INSTITUTE
CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
TERRAIN
URBAN VILLAGES
URBAN ECOLOGY
ECO-CITIES
ECO NET
ECOLOGY
WORLD-WATCH ORG
MOTHER JONES
GREENPEACE
THE NATURE CONSERVANCY
FORESTS ORG
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS
NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES
URBAN ADVANTAGE
WALKABLE COMMUNITIES
AMERICA WALKS ORG
ACTIVE LIVING NETWORK
LEAGUE OF AMERICAN BICYCLISTS
CAR-FREE
CAR-FREE PLANNING
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
TOD COMMUNITIES
INSTITUTE FOR TRANSPORTATION & DEVELOPMENT POLICY
TRANSPORTATION & LIVABILITY LINKS
RAIL-VOLUTION
INTERNATIONAL MAKING CITIES LIVABLE ORG
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
ABOUT PLANNING
LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION
PLANNING COMMISSIONERS JOURNAL
CONSERVATION LAW FOUNDATION
NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION
NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM
AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION
THE CONGRESS FOR THE NEW URBANISM
NEW URBAN NEWS
NEW URBAN GUILD
CYBURBIA
SMART GROWTH NETWORK
SMART GROWTH EPA
TRANSECT SMART CODES
AHWAHNEE PRINCIPLES
CHARRETTE CENTER
NATIONAL CHARRETTE INSTITUTE
THE SEASIDE INSTITUTE
THE INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE
THE INSTITUTE FOR TRADITIONAL ARCHITECTURE
THE PRINCE'S FOUNDATION
INTBAU, UK
UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
KNIGHT PROGRAM IN COMMUNITY BUILDING
PERIFERIA
THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN GEOGRAPHERS
THE NEW FARM
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QUOTES
"The world we have created today as a result of our thinking thus far has problems which cannot be solved by thinking the way we thought when we created them." -Albert Einstein
"We complain that the streets of the urban peripheries are boring, that they do not offer the same opportunities for encounter, exchange, curiosity, attention, offered by the streets of the historic centers. It is not surprising, as the streets of the historic centers were made for the motion of human beings whereas the streets of the periphery have been made for the motion of automobiles." -Giancarlo De Carlo (The Contemporary Town)
"The automobile was, and remains, the agent of chaos, the breaker of the city." -Vincent Scully
"A city's internal transportation system - the layout of its streets and roads, the layout of streetcar systems and subways - determines the character of the city, how its citizens live and work. It has less to do with the direct engines of wealth creation. Build subways and people will live in dense neighborhoods and walk to corner stores; build broad suburban streets and they will live in subdivisions and drive to the Wal-Mart." -Alex Marshall (How Cities Work)
"Above all else, a city is a means of providing a maximum number of social contacts and satisfactions. When the open spaces gape too widely, and the dispersal is too constant, the people lack a stage for their activities and the drama of their daily life lacks sharp focus." -Lewis Mumford (The Highway and the City)
"America at the turn of the millennium is suffering the woeful consequences, largely unanticipated, of trying to become a drive-in utopia. The attempt took roughly eighty years, from the end of the First World War to the brink of global warming, oil depletion, and other epochal disorders hard upon us. This nation's massive suburban build-out was an orgy of misspent energy and material resources that squandered our national wealth and left us with an infrastructure of daily life that, left as is, has poor prospects in the new centruy. It is also hard to overstate the cultural destruction that was one of its chief side effects, especially the loss of knowledge, tradition, skill, custom, and vernacular wisdom in the art of city-making that was thrown into the dumpster of history in our effort to fulfill General Motors' 'World of Tomorrow'" -James Howard Kunstler (The City In Mind)
"City-making is an art rather than a product of statistical analysis or social service casework." "The future will compel us to change our way of life, to give up the fiasco of suburbia and all its revolting accessories and recondense our living and working places into the traditional human habitats called cities, towns, and neighborhoods." -James Howard Kunstler (The City In Mind)
"Since my early youth I have been acutely aware of the chaotic ugliness of our modern man-made environment when compared to the unity and beauty of old, pre-industrial towns." -Walter Gropius
"Now that we have built the sprawling system of far-flung houses, offices, and discount marts connected by freeways, we can't afford to live in it. We also failed to anticipate the costs of the social problems we created in letting our towns and cities go to hell. Two generations have grown up and matured in America without experiencing what it is like to live in a human habitat of quality. We have lost so much culture in the sense of how to build things well. Bodies of knowledge and sets of skills that took centuries to develop were tossed into the garbage, and we will not get them back easily. The culture of architecture was lost to Modernism and its dogmas. The culture of town planning was handed over to lawyers and bureaucrats, with pockets of resistance mopped up by the automobile, highway, and real estate interests." -James Howard Kunstler (The Geography of Nowhere)
"Has there ever been another place on earth where so many people of wealth and power have paid for and put up with so much architecture they detested? I doubt it seriously. Every child goes to school in a building that looks like a duplicating-machine replacement-parts wholesale distribution warehouse. Not even the school board, who commissioned it and approved the plans, can figure it out. The main thing is to try to avoid having to explain it to the parents." -Tom Wolfe (From Bauhaus to Our House)
"The road is now like television, violent and tawdry. The landscape it runs through is littered with cartoon buildings and commercial messages. We whiz by them at 55 miles an hour and forget them, because one convenience store looks like the next. They do not celebrate anything beyond their mechanistic ability to sell merchandise. We don't want to remember them. We did not savor the approach and we were not rewarded upon reaching the destination, and it will be the same next time, and every time. There is little sense of having arrived anywhere, because everyplace looks like noplace in particular." "Suburbia is economically catastrophic, socially toxic, ecologically suicidal and spiritually degrading. It has become a cartoon of country life, an abstraction of it, in many cases a mockery of it." -James Howard Kunstler (The Geography of Nowhere)
"The goal of the city is to make man happy and safe." -Aristotle
"The measure of any great civilization is its cities and a measure of a city's greatness is to be found in the quality of its public spaces, its parks and squares." -John Ruskin
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