The Future of Cities. Nairobi: UN-HABITAT, 2003.

The Future of Cities was one of the five key parallel events held during the Nineteenth Session of the UN-HABITAT Governing Council held 5-9 May 2003 in Nairobi, Kenya. The objective of the parallel event was to explore and discuss how cities are likely to develop in the 21st century, in terms of their form and function and taking into consideration, past current and anticipated future trends.

National Charrette Institute. The Charrette Handbook: The Essential Guide for Accelerated, Collaborative Community Planning. Chicago: American Planning Association, 2006.

A step-by-step guide to a successful charrette. Based on the NCI Charrette Planner certification training curriculum developed by the National Charrette Institute, the book offers practical tips on everything from pre-charrette preparations to project implementation. With handy charts and easy-to-follow examples, the handbook is an invaluable how-to manual for anyone organizing a charrette.

Sze, Julie. Noxious New York: The Racial Politics of Urban Health and Environmental Justice. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2007.

The author analyzes the culture, politics, and history of environmental justice activism in New York City within the larger context of privatization, deregulation, and globalization. She tracks urban planning and environmental health activism in four New York neighborhoods: Brooklyn's Sunset Park and Williamsburg sections, West Harlem, and the South Bronx. Sze shows that the linkage of planning and public health in New York City goes back to the 19th century's sanitation movement, and she looks at the city's history of garbage, sewage, and sludge management. She analyzes the influence of race, family, and gender politics on asthma activism and examines community activists' responses to garbage privatization and energy deregulation. Finally, she looks at how activist groups have begun to shift from fighting particular siting and land use decisions to engaging in a larger process of community planning and community-based research projects. Reviewed in April 2007 Planning magazine.

Bess, Philip. Till We Have Built Jerusalem: Architecture, Urbanism, and the Sacred. Wilmington, Del.: ISI Books, 2006.

Bess puts forth fresh arguments for traditional architecture and urbanism, their relationship to human flourishing, and the kind of culture required to create and sustain traditional towns and city neighborhoods. Bess not only dissects the intellectual assumptions of contemporary architecture, he also shows how the individualist ethos of modern societies finds physical expression in contemporary suburban sprawl, making traditional urbanism difficult to sustain. He concludes by considering the role of both the natural law tradition and communal religion in providing intellectual and spiritual depth to contemporary attempts to build new — and revive existing — traditional towns and cities, attempts that, at their best, help fulfill our natural human desires for order, beauty, and community.

Erickson, Donna. MetroGreen: Connecting Open Space in North American Cities. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2006.

MetroGreen answers the call for a deeper exploration of the latest thinking and newest practices in this growing conservation field. In 10 case studies of U.S. and Canadian cities paired for comparative analysis, Toronto and Chicago, Calgary and Denver, and Vancouver and Portland among them, Erickson looks closely at the motivations and objectives for connecting open spaces across metropolitan areas. She documents how open-space networks have been successfully created and protected, while also highlighting the critical human and ecological benefits of connectivity. Reviewed in April 2007 Planning magazine.

Smith, Mary S. Shared Parking. 2nd ed. Washington, D.C.: Urban Land Institute, 2005.

Thoroughly updated and based on all new data, the new edition of this highly respected book contains the information you need to accurately estimate parking requirements for a mixed-use setting where parking is shared among the uses. Based on widely accepted methodology, the study now includes new parking ratios that take into account trends in visits to restaurants and cineplexes, and shopping and office trips. A thorough discussion of the methodology, findings, and derivation of these values provides a solid foundation for the validity of shared parking and the number of spaces recommended for various land use mixes.

Koval, John P., et al. The New Chicago: A Social and Cultural Analysis. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2006.

In this wide-ranging book, 20 scholars, journalists, and activists, relying on data from the 2000 census and many years of direct experience with the city, identify five converging forces in American urbanization that are reshaping this storied metropolis. The 26 essays included here analyze Chicago by way of globalization and its impact on the contemporary city, economic restructuring, the evolution of machine-style politics into managerial politics, physical transformations of the central city and its suburbs, and race relations in a multicultural era.

Harper, Thomas L., and Stanley M. Stein. Dialogical Planning in a Fragmented Society: Critically Liberal, Pragmatic, Incremental. New Brunswick, N.J.: CUPR Press, 2006.

This book is the culmination a critical study of a certain conception of philosophy and its application to planning. The conception of philosophy that links the various chapters is based on what can be referred to as neopragmatism. The chapters flow from philosopher Stanley Stein’s examination of neopragmatism and his thinking about how this philosophical approach can be useful in the field of environmental design — specifically, how it can be applied to planning procedures and problems. Thomas Harper provided the context for this theoretical application from his academic background in economics and management as well as his practical experience with political decision-making processes, community planning, and economic development. Reviewed in the January 2007 Planning magazine.

Balakar, Ted, and Sam Staley. The Road More Traveled: Why the Congestion Crisis Matters More than You Think, and What We Can Do about It. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006.

Balaker and Staley shine light on the problem of traffic congestion in this easily accessible book. Though often dismissed as a minor if irritating nuisance, congestion's insidious effects constrain our personal and professional lives, making it harder to find a good job, spend time with our family, and maintain profitable businesses. After centuries of building our cities into bustling centers of commerce and culture, we are beginning to slow down. The authors assert that the U.S. can reclaim its mobility if we are willing to follow successful examples from overseas, where innovations in infrastructure and privatization have made other nations stronger and more competitive.

Vuchic, Vukan R. Urban Transit: Operations, Planning, and Economics. New York: Wiley, 2005.

Presenting theoretical concepts and practical, real-world methodologies for operations, planning and analyses of transit systems, this book is a comprehensive single-volume text and reference for students as well as professionals. The thorough examination of technical fundamentals and management principles in this book enables readers to address projects across the globe despite nuances in regulations and laws. Dozens of worked problems and end-of-chapter exercises help familiarize the reader with the formulae and analytical techniques presented in the book's three convenient sections: Transit System Operations and Networks, Transit Agency Operations, Economics, and Organization, and Transit System Planning.

Bogart, Michele H. The Politics of Urban Beauty: New York and its Arts Commission. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006.

Since its founding in 1898, the Art Commission of the City of New York (ACNY) has served as the city’s aesthetic gatekeeper, evaluating all works of art intended for display on city property. And over the years, the commission’s domain has expanded dramatically to include everything from parks and courthouses to trash cans and sidewalks. Author Michele H. Bogart argues that this unprecedented authority has made the commission host to some complex negotiations about not only the role of art in urban design, but also the shape and meaning of the city and its public spaces. Reviewed in April 2007 Planning magazine.