5 comments about Community By Design: New Urbanism for Suburbs and Small Communities.

1. I like this book because it suggests ways to make our communities better. I really like books that talk about how we can improve the status quo and/or better alternatives to the status quo.



2. This is an excellent introduction to how the philosophy of New Urbanism can be applied to suburbs. It would be very helpful to people serving on Zoning & Planning Commissions or City Councils.



3. The suburban landscape of the United States is the subject of this book, advertised as "the first practical guide to creating communities that truly are communities-not merely enclaves near off-ramps." Guided by the principles of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), the book uses excerpts from that organization's Charter to illuminate its advocacy of more connected development patterns. The book's scope extends beyond the commercial strip to include the major building blocks of towns and suburbs, such as apartment complexes, schools, parks and office campuses.
   
   Hall and Porterfield includes passages of fist-thumping suburbia-bashing similar to James Howard Kunstler's Home From Nowhere (1998, Touchstone Books) or Jane Holtz Kay's Asphalt Nation (1997, Crown). They also include graphic material, much of it adapted their earlier book, A Concise Guide to Community Planning (1994, McGraw-Hill).
   
   Readers knowledgeable about New Urbanism will find few surprises here, other than a few glaring factual errors, like a reference to "Tyson's Corners, Virginia, one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States" (p. 7) and a claim that Edge Cities and urban villages are "two names for essentially the same thing" (p. 210). Good points crop up here and there, but recommendations are so limited in scope that it can be difficult to discern whether the sample site designs are intended to be good or bad examples, which limits the book's usefulness pedagogically. The lack of dimensions on most of the drawings also severely limits the book's utility as a practical reference. Hall and Porterfield contrast "conventional suburban development" and "Traditional Neighborhood Development" options for site plans, but the comparisons sometimes seem forced and nearly always ignore the larger regional issues so critical to the debate.
   
   One ideal audience for this book might suburban planning commissioners, who need guidance from designers in order to understand the differences between conventional suburban development pods and walkable, human-scaled neighborhoods.



4. Community by Design is an introduction to the basics of community design and New Urbanism. It's useful if that's what you're after, but not an interesting read if you're anything but a novice on the the topic. It reads like a texbook for a freshman-level course in urban design. Used for that purpose, I'm certain it would be more than successful. As a source of new, insightful commentary on the subject of New Urbanism it falls more than a little short.



5. I wanted to take the opportunity to recommend this book to anyone who has wondered why every place in America looks like everywhere else. There's a funny line in the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie where "our heros" are traveling by car across America in a race against time to foil the plan of the arch villan. As they pass the same gas station and fast food franchise again and again Bullwinkle says, "Haven't we been here before?" That was the same reaction my seven-year old had this summer when we were on our family vacation. We were in Richmond, Virginia and he said we've been here before because I remember that place over there. I had to explain to him what franchise architecture was and how just about every town in America has one of those types of buildings. This is a sad commentary on the American landscape that we as consumers expect the to see the familiar sign of our favorite business. This is one reason why I wrote this book; to let folks know that there's a better way. In fact, we used to do it better. The types of places that capture our attention and long to live are the places that were built prior to World War II. The small towns that so many families idealize as the place they'd rather raise their kids are the same places that couldn't be built today because of "modern" zoning ordinances. And the sad thing is today's generation is the first to be raised totally in a suburban environment that requires owning an automobile just to survive. If you're intersted in how this could change and what the alternatives are Community by Design is your book! There's 250 illustrations and photos that show you what's possible right now. The book helps you understand why community can and should be designed and lets you see some places where it has been. If you ask me this is a great book. ...

2 comments about Times Square Roulette: Remaking the City Icon.

1. The transformation of Times Square from a den of porn, drugs, and prostitution into an urban Disneyland is the greatest success story of urban renewal. (I am astonished that anyone could be nostalgic about the old Times Square - I find it hard to be nostalgic about drug dealers loitering in front of porn shops and boarded-up theaters.)

   Lynne Sagalyn devotes her 600-page tome to documenting the politics behind the redevelopment process. The end result is not exactly rivetting reading. Perhaps it's asking too much for any author to transform this epic of backroom politics, urban planners, and real estate developers into a "good read." In any event, the author has carefully documented the entire process, focussing on the backroom politics and urban planning strategies, rather than on the architecture of the buildings themselves. The book is profusely illustrated with well over a hundred b&w photos and detailed maps. In addition, a central color section of the book has about 35 photographs and drawings.




2. The story of how Times Square, and, in particular, 42nd Street, was finally rescued is fascinating, but it's blurred in this treatment. Sagalyn is an academic, and unfortunately, it shows. It reads like a long series of New York Times Arts & Leisure section essays by a critic. All the info is in there, but it's somewhat exhausting to wade through. One suspects the same info could have been delivered more elegantly in half the number of words.

   Given the rather expensive price, wait to see whether there's a paperback version. But anyone who's interested in the history and development of NYC will find it worthwhile.

No comments about With/Without.

1 comments about Density by Design : New Directions in Residential Development.

1. good resource of options for the designer

1 comments about NICHE STRATEGIES FOR DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION (Ichor Business Books).

1. Niche Strategies offers a refreshing and insightful way to understand and build a competitive retail marketplace in the downtown by creating a critical area of unique products and services, the identity of a downtown can be enhanced benefiting everyone.

No comments about Public Transportation: Leading the Way.

No comments about Handbook of Water Sensitive Planning and Design (Integrated Studies in Water Management and Land Development).

No comments about The Birth of City Planning in the United States, 1840--1917 (Creating the North American Landscape).

2 comments about Out of Site: A Social Criticism of Architecture.

1. For too long, straight men have controlled how we watch and analyze film and video. Then, Laura Mulvey gave us an idea how women view things/use their gaze. Finally, a group of academics are theorizing how gays and lesbians "ga(y)ze". This book has great representation from men of color and women. At the end of every essay, experts debate articles with the authors, so you get an even broader discussion of the work. When I was in college, professors had this book on their reading lists all the time. I found myself being able to quote from this book all the time. Even activists and other academics quote from this book all the time. And I love the title with its campiness and double entendre. The name of the editors is equally clever. Anybody who is truly interested in gay and lesbians studies must buy and read this anthology!



2. Okay, I admit: the title sounds like a cosmetics manual. But it's really a collection of essays from a NYC conference about 10 years ago. For some reason, the men (Kobena Mercer, Richard Fung) are much better. They seem to know more about work being made. The women (DeLauretis, Judith Mayne) are interesting, but maybe too academic: too much theorizing based on too little material, focus on not-so-good historical (Dorothy Arzner) and more recent (Sheila McLaughlin) filmmakers makes it seem out of touch. Totally misses any of the more recent queer/grrl media, which had begun to surface by that time.

   Some of the discussions add a bit of "grit" otherwise missing from the all-too-polished talks.

   You'd never guess, from the volume, much of anything about the queer media explosion about to happen.

1 comments about 'scape: The International Magazine of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism (Scape).

1. This is a great journal for professionals, or the aspiring urban planners and landscape architects. It covers environmental design from an international perspective with extensive essays, interviews in a well though out academic manner; without the ubiquitous adverts. This periodical can be enjoyed by any one from professionals to backyard gardeners, just about anyone whom is devoted to environmental conservation and sustainability.
   A. Thomas