New Towns and Communal Values


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New Towns for the Twenty-First Century


Book Description

New towns—large, comprehensively planned developments on newly urbanized land—boast a mix of spaces that, in their ideal form, provide opportunities for all of the activities of daily life. From garden cities to science cities, new capitals to large military facilities, hundreds were built in the twentieth century and their approaches to planning and development were influential far beyond the new towns themselves. Although new towns are notoriously difficult to execute and their popularity has waxed and waned, major new town initiatives are increasing around the globe, notably in East Asia, South Asia, and Africa. New Towns for the Twenty-First Century considers the ideals behind new-town development, the practice of building them, and their outcomes. A roster of international and interdisciplinary contributors examines their design, planning, finances, management, governance, quality of life, and sustainability. Case studies provide histories of new towns in the United States, Asia, Africa, and Europe and impart lessons learned from practitioners. The volume identifies opportunities afforded by new towns for confronting future challenges related to climate change, urban population growth, affordable housing, economic development, and quality of life. Featuring inventories of classic new towns, twentieth-century new towns with populations over 30,000, and twenty-first-century new towns, the volume is a valuable resource for governments, policy makers, and real estate developers as well as planners, designers, and educators. Contributors: Sandy Apgar, Sai Balakrishnan, JaapJan Berg, Paul Buckhurst, Felipe Correa, Carl Duke, Reid Ewing, Ann Forsyth, Robert Freestone, Shikyo Fu, Pascaline Gaborit, Elie Gamburg, Alexander Garvin, David R. Godschalk, Tony Green, ChengHe Guan, Rachel Keeton, Steven Kellenberg, Kyung-Min Kim, Gene Kohn, Todd Mansfield, Robert W. Marans, Robert Nelson, Pike Oliver, Richard Peiser, Michelle Provoost, Peter G. Rowe, Jongpil Ryu, Andrew Stokols, Adam Tanaka, Jamie von Klemperer, Fulong Wu, Ying Xu, Anthony Gar-On Yeh, Chaobin Zhou.




Americans Against the City


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It is a paradox of American life that we are a highly urbanized nation filled with people deeply ambivalent about urban life. An aversion to urban density and all that it contributes to urban life, and a perception that the city was the place where "big government" first took root in America fostered what historian Steven Conn terms the "anti-urban impulse." In response, anti-urbanists called for the decentralization of the city, and rejected the role of government in American life in favor of a return to the pioneer virtues of independence and self-sufficiency. In this provocative and sweeping book, Conn explores the anti-urban impulse across the 20th century, examining how the ideas born of it have shaped both the places in which Americans live and work, and the anti-government politics so strong today. Beginning in the booming industrial cities of the Progressive era at the turn of the 20th century, where debate surrounding these questions first arose, Conn examines the progression of anti-urban movements. : He describes the decentralist movement of the 1930s, the attempt to revive the American small town in the mid-century, the anti-urban basis of urban renewal in the 1950s and '60s, and the Nixon administration's program of building new towns as a response to the urban crisis, illustrating how, by the middle of the 20th century, anti-urbanism was at the center of the politics of the New Right. Concluding with an exploration of the New Urbanist experiments at the turn of the 21st century, Conn demonstrates the full breadth of the anti-urban impulse, from its inception to the present day. Engagingly written, thoroughly researched, and forcefully argued, Americans Against the City is important reading for anyone who cares not just about the history of our cities, but about their future as well.




Neighbors and Neighborhoods


Book Description

How does the design of a neighborhood affect the people who live there? In this thoughtful, engaging book, the author explains how a neighborhood’s design lays the groundwork for the social relationships that make it a community. Blending social science with personal interviews, the author shares the lessons of planned communities from historic Riverside, Illinois, to archetypal Levittown, New York, and Disney’s Celebration, Florida. Through these inspirational stories, readers will discover the characteristics of neighborhoods that promote the attitudes and behaviors of a healthy community. This volume is an eye-opener for everyone who’s wondered what makes their local neighborhoods tick. It demystifies the way planners, architects, developers, organizers, and citizens come together in crafting a community’s physical elements, policies, programs, and processes. Readers will come away with a new understanding of their roles in creating the communities they want.







The Living City


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THE LIVING CITY "An intelligent analysis. Sensible, undoctrinaire, evengood-humored. An appealing mixture of passion and clinicaldispassion." -Washington Post Book World "The best antidote I've read to the doom-and-gloom propheciesconcerning the future of urban America." -Bill Moyers "This is fresh and fascinating material; it is essential forunderstanding not only how to avoid repeating terrible mistakes ofthe past, but also how to recover from them." -Jane Jacobs, author of The Death and Life of Great AmericanCities From coast to coast across America there are countless urbansuccess stories about rejuvenated neighborhoods and resurgentbusiness districts. Roberta Brandes Gratz defines the phenomenon as"urban husbandry"-the care, management, and preservation of thebuilt environment nurtured by genuine participatory planningefforts of government, urban planners, and average citizens.







The Garden City


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This examination of a phenomenon of 19th century planning traces the origins, implementation, international transference and adoption of the Garden City idea. It also considers its continuing relevance in the late 20th century and into the 21st century.




Maryland, A Middle Temperament


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Explores the ironies, contradictions, and compromises that give "America's oldest border state"its special character. Selected by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title Maryland: A Middle Temperament explores the ironies, contradictions, and compromises that give "America's oldest border state" its special character. Extensively illustrated and accompanied by bibliography, maps, charts, and tables, Robert Brugger's vivid account of the state's political, economic, social, and cultural heritage—from the outfitting of Cecil Calvert's expedition to the opening of Baltimore's Harborplace—is rich in the issues and personalities that make up Maryland's story and explain its "middle temperament."




The Community in Urban Society


Book Description

The community is more than an abstract object of theoretical inquiry. It is also a place where people live. It is difficult to determine where community research and theory merge, because the community is a unique place where theory and the real world come together. Local conditions change and new research techniques emerge. In the second edition of The Community in Urban Society, the authors solve this problem by distilling the historic and foundational theories of community, applying traditional approaches (typology, ecology, systems theory, and conflict theory) to current conditions, and exploring new and relevant theories that impact todays communities. The latest edition also examines recent and emerging technologies that facilitate examination and evaluation of the modern community condition. Updated coverage includes topics such as New Urbanism, modern network analysis methods, the urban political economy approach to community, the growth machine approach, GIS mapping, recent holistic studies, cyberspace communities, and up-to-date discussions of community indicator studies, quality of life, community power, and regime politics.