What's New

June 2002

Economic and Public Policy

The Millenial City: A New Urban Paradigm for 21st Century America. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2000.

This set of essays from City Journal explores new approaches to crime and its prevention, the reform of welfare, and the end to the notion of entitlement that has sabotaged generations of the poor. It discusses the reinvention of government to make it smaller, more responsive, and more effective and new school initiatives that concentrate on students.

Environmental Planning

Natural Resources Law Center. The New Watershed Source Book: A Directory and Review of Watershed Initiatives in the Western United States. Boulder, Colo.: The Center, 2000.

Features case studies of 117 watershed groups, seven case studies of forestry partnerships, and listings for 346 western watershed initiatives. The book includes the historical and sociopolitical context of the western watersheds movement and a review of laws associated with community-based conservation.

Nichols, Peter D., Megan K. Murphy, and Douglas S. Kenney. Water and Growth in Colorado: A Review of Legal and Policy Issues. Boulder, Colo.: Natural Resources Law Center, 2001.

Based on interviews with approximately 70 key Colorado water leaders as well as an extensive review of recent water studies and legal documents, the report describes existing water problems and potential solutions. The issues identified range from highly specific legal concerns to broader issues about the appropriate relationship of people to their environment. The range of potential solutions identified is equally diverse, including management strategies based on legal reforms, market tools, and technological innovations.

Planning and Zoning Legislation

Kotaka, Tsuyoshi, and David L. Callies, Eds. Taking Land: Compulsory Purchase and Regulation in Asian-Pacific Countries. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2002.

This book takes a comparative look at land-use laws in 10 Asia-Pacific countries (Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand) as well as in the United States. A land-use scholar from each country describes and analyzes compulsory land acquisition and the means through which property owners can seek compensation when government regulations or policies become so burdensome that they approach the effect of compulsory purchase.

Salkin, Patricia E., Ed. 2002 Zoning and Planning Law Handbook. St. Paul, Minn.: West Group, 2002.

Chapters include Takings; The First Amendment; Telecommunications; Business and Technology; and Smart Growth.

Planning Movements

Hall, Kenneth B., and Gerald A. Porterfield. Community by Design: New Urbanism for Suburbs and Small Communities. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001.

"The book is very clearly geared towards problem identification, problem solving and promoting effective design solutions for communities in suburban locations. It does not attempt to address contexts other than those in the USA, so many the prescriptions advocated here need to be evaluated for their effectiveness and appropriateness in different legal, economic, physical and cultural contexts. However, the issues of zoned, disconnected and car-dominated suburban development are present in every developed and most developing country of the world. The pragmatic approach of this book contains much to assist and involve all those who care about the design of the streets and spaces of their neighbourhoods and the potential of this framework to generate community." —Sue McGlynn, Resource for Urban Design Information website.

Urban Sociology

Campolo, Tony. Revolution and Renewal: How Churches Are Saving Our Cities. Louisville, Ky.: John Knox Press, 2000.

From Publishers Weekly: Campolo, one of a handful of leading evangelicals whose primary concerns are poverty and social justice, has written a book that will surely garner much attention in the secular world as well as the Christian circles in which he is already prominent. Here, Campolo takes on the problem of urban decay, urging that churches must take an active role in revitalizing cities. Christians should get involved in public schools and prisons, says Campolo, but they must also go further than what might be seen as the Band-aid-on-the-corpse approach. Christians should help lure business development — and with it jobs — to urban areas and should support the increasingly trendy faith-based social programs. Churches should not be afraid to work with government, but neither should Christians lose their distinctive angle on social rejuvenation. Although clearly intended for a Christian audience, this call to arms could be fruitful for anyone interested in creating social change in American cities. Those looking for a searing critique of capitalism will not find it here, but for Christians who want to work within the capitalist framework to renew the city, Campolo offers a challenging call to action — a call coupled with enough practical guidelines to bring the task, though daunting, within reach.

Additional review from Citistates Group.