Urban Public Policy


Book Description

The 1992 Los Angeles riots catapulted the problems of the city back onto the policy agenda. The cauldron of social problems of the city, as the riots showed, offers no simple solutions. Indeed, urban policy includes a range of policy issues involving welfare, housing, job training, education, drug control, and the environment. The myriad of local, state, and federal agencies only further complicates formulating and implementing coherent policies for the city. This volume, while not offering specific proposals to remedy the problems of the city, provides a broad historical context for discussing contemporary urban policy and for arriving at new prescriptions for relieving the ills of the American city. The essays address issues related to public housing, poverty, transportation, and the environment. In doing so, the authors discuss larger themes in urban policy as well as provide case studies of how policies have been implemented over time in specific cities. Of particular interest are two essays that discuss the role of the historian in shaping urban policy and the importance of historical preservation in urban planning.







Acid Rain Control


Book Description







The American City: What Works, What Doesn't


Book Description

The definitive guide to urban planning and design--completely updated and now in full color In the Third Edition of The American City: What Works, What Doesn't, award-winning city planner and renowned urban scholar Alexander Garvin examines more than 350 programs and projects that have been implemented nationwide in 150 cities and suburbs, evaluates their successes and failures, and offers relevant lessons learned from them. Nearly all of the book's 650 illustrations are now in full color and consist almost entirely of photographs, maps, and diagrams produced especially for the Third Edition. Garvin discusses major urban initiatives that have emerged over the past two decades, such as Chicago's Millennium Park, Houston's Uptown Business District, and Metropolitan Denver's FasTracks multicounty rapid transit network. He reexamines the wide range of places and strategies covered in the previous edition, offering new analyses and insights. A new chapter on retrofitting the city for a modern commercial economy is included. This practical guide presents six key ingredients of project success--market, location, design, financing, time, and entrepreneurship--and explains how to combine these elements in a mutually reinforcing manner. Garvin demonstrates how the synthesis of individual and private-sector efforts, community-level action, and broad-based government policy can--and has--achieved urban and suburban regeneration. COVERAGE INCLUDES: A realistic approach to city and suburban planning Ingredients of success--market, location, design, financing, time, and entrepreneurship Parks, playgrounds, and open space Retail shopping Palaces for the people--libraries, stadiums, museums, and other public facilities Retrofitting the city for a modern commercial economy The life and death of the City of Tomorrow--implications of national urban redevelopment programs Downtown management Increasing the housing supply Reducing housing costs Housing rehabilitation Clearing the slums Revitalizing neighborhoods Residential suburbs New-towns-in-town New-towns-in-the-country Land use regulation Historic preservation Comprehensive planning




Federal Register


Book Description