What's New

September 2003

Built Environment/Urban Design

City of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Design Standards and Guidelines for Downtown Central Avenue: Central Avenue Urban Design Master Plan. Albuquerque: The City,?.

Winter and Company. Design Guidebook for Buildings in Downtown Washington, Missouri. Washington, Mo.: The City,?.

Government Finance

Fischel, William A. The Homevoter Hypothesis: How Home Values Influence Local Government Taxation, School Finance, and Land-Use Policies. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001.

Although other commentators have bemoaned voter apathy and the lack of civic engagement, Fischel shows how democracy thrives at the local level. As the "homevoter" looks at all the factors that affect property values — good schools, effective management of traffic, fewer undesirable uses such as landfills and prisons — he or she becomes politically engaged. ... The Homevoter Hypothesis ... [is] an important contribution to the ongoing conversation about how best to manage growth. — Anthony Flint, Boston Globe

Growth Management

Roper, William L, et al. Health and Smart Growth: Building Health, Promoting Active Communities. Miami, Fla.: Funders' Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities, 2003.

This paper explores the relationships among growth patterns, community design, and public health, and the growing body of literature documenting them. It then examines the ways that smarter growth patterns can contribute to improvements in public health and discusses opportunities for funders.

Information Technology

Greene, R.W. GIS in Public Policy: Using Geographic Information for More Effective Government. Redlands, Cal.: ESRI Press, 2000.

"GIS in Public Policy is part of the ESRI Press Case Studies Series. In this series, the applications of ESRI geographic information system (GIS) software in different fields, such as natural resources, energy and landscape architecture are explored. As in other books in the series, the graphic design of GIS in Public Policy is beautifully rendered to form a visually stunning book. It is full of colorful photos and maps — perfect for those short on time, attention, or both." Read the full review by Laura Pinnas in the Spring 2001 issue of URISA Journal.

Planning

Bunnell, Gene. Making Places Special: Stories of Real Places Made Better by Planning. Chicago: Planners Press, 2002.

When communities succeed, good choices based on good planning rarely get the credit. Gene Bunnell takes us behind the scenes in 10 exceptional "best" places from tiny Block Island, Rhode Island, to booming San Diego, California, where good planning triumphed. Their stories prove that it is possible to make places better by adopting thoughtful public policy based on careful planning.

Planning and Zoning Legislation

City of San Jose, California. San Jose Residential Design Guidelines: Toward Community. San Jose: The City, 1999.

Crawford, Clan, Jr. Michigan Zoning and Planning. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Institute of Continuing Legal Education, 1998. 3rd ed.

Planning History

Randall, Gregory C. America's Original GI Town: Park Forest, Illinois. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.

At the close of World War II, Americans became increasingly concerned about the problem of housing for returning veterans, relocated defense workers, and their families. Designs such as the garden city that dated from the turn of the 20th century or earlier were prominent once again, as planners saw a renewed need for ready-made communities. One such community among the first and, perhaps, most representative was Park Forest, Illinois, a privately built and publicly managed town 26 miles south of Chicago. In this book, Gregory Randall presents the history of the planning, design, construction, and growth of Park Forest. He shows how planners who dubbed the new community a "GI town" drew on lessons learned from English garden cities and New Deal greenbelt towns to cope with America's emerging peacetime housing crisis. He also shows how this new town changed community planning throughout the United States, including its effects on community development up to the present. Reviewed in the Summer 2002 issue of Journal of the American Planning Association.

Redevelopment

Contosta, David R. Lancaster, Ohio, 1800-2000: Frontier Town to Edge City. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 1999.

As the 21st century begins, the widespread use of the automobile, advances in technology, and Lancaster's proximity to the state capital, Columbus, are transforming the community into something new — part town, part city, and part suburb — a phenomenon that is emerging in hundreds of older communities throughout the United States. Contosta's history of the development of one small town, and the over one hundred illustrations enhancing the text, offer a microcosm of the profound changes in American life over two centuries. Reviewed in the Autumn 2000 issue of the Journal of the American Planning Association.

Wright, David J. It Takes a Neighborhood: Strategies to Prevent Urban Decline. Albany, N.Y.: Rockefeller Institute Press, 2001.

The Neighborhood Preservation Initiative, a comprehensive community building program in 10 neighborhoods from nine mostly mid-sized cities, is examined in It Takes a Neighborhood. Wright shows what was learned through NPI about the value of focusing on working-class neighborhoods, as well as how to think about and structure community building efforts generally. The lessons gained from NPI about engaging established, networked community organizations in deliberate action-oriented strategies, fueled by flexible funding, and linked to systems of local support, are shown to be applicable to a wide spectrum of community building initiatives.