No comments about Urban Spaces: Squares & Plazas.

No comments about A Tax Guide to Conservation Easements.

No comments about 30 60 90 09: Regarding Public Space.

No comments about Manuel de Sola-Morales: A Matter of Things.

No comments about Architecture at the Expo: An Urban Project in Zaragoza.

No comments about Urban Theory and the Urban Experience: Encountering the City.

1 comments about When City and Country Collide: Managing Growth In The Metropolitan Fringe.

1. I found this book to be a thorough and thoughtful analysis of suburban sprawl issues in America. Daniels is a fluid writer, and his work is very accessible. He is careful to identify terms that are relevent to a comprehensive understanding of sprawl, and does not promote ridiculous, hard-core left dramatic changes as the only solution. However, I would appreciate more perspective on what the actual housing needs of Americans are; he leaps to the conclusion (like so many) that sprawl is caused by the wealthiest citizens. Where, then, do the (dwindling) working and middle classes live? Do they not require homes and services?

No comments about Megalopolis: The Urbanized Northeastern Seaboard of the United States.

1 comments about These Are Our Stories: Women's Stories of Abuse and Survival.

1. Jan Rosenberg's THESE ARE OUR STORIES makes an important contribution to the field of domestic violence study/prevention. Combining her skills as a folklorist and as a chaplain, Rosenberg presents eleven women's stories of survival. All of these personal experience stories are troubling but impressive and moving. Part of Rosenberg's introduction conveys the impact of the women's stories: "I've re-read the transcripts, and have listened again to the tapes. I continue to shake my head in wonder at how a person can do this to another. My breath catches when I listen to a scene revealed in tears, in exclamations. I feel strongly that these stories need to be shared, but shared in a constructive way" (4). The author certainly succeeds in creating a constructive framework for the sharing of these powerful stories; her book includes an information guide for abused women, a list of resources, and a bibliography. I highly recommend this book for folklorists, domestic violence professionals, and general readers.

1 comments about Concrete and Clay: Reworking Nature in New York City (Urban and Industrial Environments).

1. Matthew Gandy's CONCRETE AND CLAY is a sweeping history of the different ways in which nature has been reworked in New York City. It includes an historical account of the ways in which the current water system was put in place. It also offers an in-depth discussion of the Olmstedian ideology of nature and space, a useful way for framing the ways in which construction and land use has functioned in NYC over time. In addition to these important historical insights, the book also offers a glimpse into early forms of local organizing in what would later take the distinct shape of the environmental justice movement in the history of the Young Lords. But because the book is specifically about NYC, Gandy focuses his attention on the Lords' movement in the city, while only offering a nod to the successful organizing campaigns that took place in cities like Chicago. This history of Young Lords activism against environmental neglect is often left out of mainstream historical accounts. Gandy situates it center stage and thus honors the impact the initial sanitation movement had for not just the Puerto Rican population, but for the city at large. This book is a must read for anyone interested in a different type of history of New York City, one taken from a perspective that challenges more common ideas about urbanity transcending nature.