What's New

February 2002

Built Environment/Urban Design

Guidelines for Community Design: Simsbury, Connecticut. Simsbury, Conn.: The Town, 2001.

Prepared by the Town of Simsbury's Design Review Board. Document contains general standards applicable to site development, landscape organization, vehicular and pedestrian circulation, off street parking, public spaces, architecture, and lighting. The guideline also addresses rooflines, facades, entrances, materials, color, surface texture, and signage. The guidelines then address the character of specific places in the town and makes suggestions for development in those areas. Areas analyzed include town center, traffic corridors, open space and farmland, woodland and watercourse, wetlands and floodplains, and highland features.

Commercial Districts

The Business Capital District Handbook: A Guide to Development and Objectives and Regulations in Santa Fe's Business Capital District. Santa Fe, N.M.: The City, 1990.

This document is written as a development handbook for individuals planning construction projects in Santa Fe's Business Capital District. The area is a mixed-use district governed by the Business Capital District Ordinance, which specifies design guidelines and preservation policies for different sections of the district. The ordinance identifies the architectural, historical and context of each area and lists design objectives for developers to follow.

Lahey, Karen Eilers. Recycling of Big Box Space. Akron, Ohio: Center for Real Estate Education and Research, 1999.

This study centers on a survey of commercial real estate agents in Ohio. The survey identifies types of big box space and the most popular reuses of big box space. The survey indicates zoning and code administration as potential problems with conversion of big box space to other uses. The study reports on several agents' experiences with trying to find tenants for big box sites.

Mudflows: Experience and Lessons Learned from the Management of Major Disasters. New York: United Nations, 1996.

Economic Development

Lyons, Thomas S., and Roger E. Hamlin. Creating an Economic Development Action Plan: A Guide for Development Professionals. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2001.

Economic development remains an important local governmental function, partly to alleviate the persistent poverty that plagues some areas and partly to compete with the activities of neighboring local governments. Those cities, metropolitan areas, rural regions, and states that do not plan effectively lose the battle for economic survival. Providing a useful guide for planners and students of planning, this revised and updated edition of Lyons and Hamlin's 1990 book offers a framework for formulating an economic development plan for a local community.
Available from Planners Book Service. Click on the title above.

Protecting Floodplain Resources: A Guidebook for Communities. [Washington, D.C.]: Federal Interagency Floodplain Management Task Force, 1996.

Written primarily for citizens and local officials. The book identifies natural systems typically associated with floodplains — rivers, streambeds, wetlands, terraces, etc. It explains how these systems work, and includes overviews in hydrology, soils and nutrients, surface versus groundwater quality. The book covers human use of floodplain areas, and provides a step-by-step planning guide for resource protection and restoration. Offers several case studies.

Protecting Nature in Your Community: A Guidebook for Preserving and Enhancing Biodiversity in Your Community. Chicago: Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission, 2000.

This guidebook focuses on the role local government, including municipalities, counties, park districts and wastewater authorities, can play in protecting and enhancing biodiversity. The plan highlights efforts of the Chicago Region Biodiversity Council through its Biodiversity Recovery Plan. The Guidebook highlights tools and techniques; comprehensive land use planning; compatible zoning and subdivision regulations; improved stormwater management; stream, lake, and wetland protection; natural landscaping; improved wastewater management; open space preservation; natural area management; and restoration and education techniques.

Shutkin, William A. The Land that Could Be: Environmentalism and Democracy in the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2000.

From the author's preface:
"This book asserts that environmentalism is as much about protecting ordinary places as it is about preserving wilderness areas; as much about promoting civic engagement as it is about pursuing environmental litigation; and as much about implementing sound economic development strategies as it is about negotiating global climate change treaties. Ultimately, I believe, environmentalism is nothing less than about our conception of ourselves as a social and political community — what the bald eagle, our national symbol, really means."

Click here for review by Donna Seaman in Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association.

Tarlock, A. Dan, James N. Corbridge, Jr., and David H. Getches. Water Resource Management: A Casebook in Law and Public Policy. Westbury, N.Y.: Foundation Press, 1993.

This edition places a greater emphasis on statutory systems than in prior editions, and the materials have been bolstered on public interest issues under state and federal laws. New cases have been added and the addition of relevant textual material, notes of recent legislative activity, and scholarly commentary capture significant new developments. The earlier editions' national orientation has been broadened, reflecting the fact that water issues are not limited to the West's perceived scarcity. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc., Portland, Oregon.

Growth Management

Growing Smart User Manual for the Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook: Model Statutes for Planning and the Management of Change. Chicago: American Planning Association, 2002.

The User Manual helps those interested in planning reform navigate through the Guidebook and, by means of checklists and case studies, select from the options available in the Guidebook, and tailor a program that will meet the unique needs of their state.

Meck, Stuart, Ed. Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook: Model Statutes for Planning and the Management of Change. Chicago: American Planning Association, 2002. 2 vol.

The culmination of a seven-year research project, this final edition of APA's Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook contains the next generation of model planning and zoning enabling legislation for the U.S. This new edition includes a CD-ROM, user manual, and more than 500 pages of new information and items previously published have been updated based on public comment and changes in planning statutory practice. The model statues, with extensive commentary, provide alternative approaches that can be tailored to fit individual states. Language from interim editions of this guidebook has already been incorporated into laws and bills in 13 states.

See Neal Peirce's commentary.

Kornblum, William. Public Use of Urban Parks: A Methods Manual for Park Managers and Community Leaders. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute, 2001.

Planning — General

Attributes of Effective Plans: Thirteen Attributes of Effective Plans. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Extension, 1997.

This paper/guide addresses what attributes a plan should include in order to increase the likelihood that it will be used in the future. A good plan: 1) tells a story, 2) shows what is special about an area, 3) presents essential data, 4) describes alternative futures and consequences of future actions, 5) inspires/communicates vision of the future, 6) communicates effectively, 7) offers a program of action, 8) maintains a realistic approach, 9) explains the process used to create the plan, 10) takes future generations into account, 11) builds a sense of ownership 12) includes provisions for updating the plan, and 13) provides a way of monitoring and evaluating community change.

To Produce an Effective Plan, You Need a Plan for Planning. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Extension, 1997.

Guide provides common sense approach to preparing a plan, focusing on the pre-planning process. The intent of the guide is to prevent preparation of plans that fall into disuse or do not get implemented. The guide suggests considering why a community needs a plan, what the plan should consist of, who should be involved in the planning process, and what process to follow in preparing the plan.

Planning Law

Griffin, Denise, and L. Cheryl Runyon. The Radical Common Law Movement and Paper Terrorism. Denver: National Conference of State Legislatures, 2000.

Redevelopment

Burayidi, Michael A., Ed. Downtowns: Revitalizing the Centers of Small Urban Communities. New York: Routledge, 2001.

Most of the literature on revitalizing downtowns has been based on the experience of large urban centers. This book provides a starting point for understanding the unique development problems of downtowns in small urban communities. It includes a series of case studies that examine some principles of downtown revitalization, urban design and infrastructure redevelopment, waterfront and brownfields redevelopment, and retail and commercial redevelopment.
Available from Planners Book Service. Click on the title above.

Grogan, Paul S., and Tony Proscio. Comeback Cities: A Blueprint for Urban Neighborhood Revival. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 2000.

Today, a blend of public-private partnerships, grassroots nonprofit organizations, and a willingness to experiment characterize what is best among the new approaches to urban problem solving. Pragmatism, not dogma, has produced the charter-school movement and police departments' new focus on "quality of life" issues. The new breed of big city mayors has welcomed business back into the city, stressed performance and results at city agencies, downplayed divisive racial politics, and cracked down on symptoms of social disorder. As a consequence, America's inner cities are becoming vital communities once again.
Available from Planners Book Service. Click on the title above.

BusinessWeek book review by Robert McNatt.

Calthorpe, Peter, and William Fulton. The Regional City: Planning for the End of Sprawl. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2001.

From Publisher's Weekly:
Readers interested in environmental issues and urban development should hungrily consume Peter Calthorpe and William Fulton's innovative contribution, The Regional City: Planning for the End of Sprawl. Authors of The Next American Metropolis and The Reluctant Metropolis, respectively, Calthorpe and Fulton argue that the design of our current metropolitan regions — inner cities surrounded by rings of isolated suburbs filled with malls and office parks — has placed our remaining land at considerable risk and exacerbates the divide between the rich and the poor. According to the authors, these "edge cities" have sprawled beyond human scale, and they suggest a regional model that they claim will offer a cleaner, more socially equitable U.S. for the 21st century. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
Available from Planners Book Service. Click on the title above.

New York Times book review.

Fulton, William. Reluctant Metropolis: Politics of Urban Growth in Los Angeles. Point Arena, Calif.: Solano Press, 1997.

In 12 essays, William Fulton chronicles the history of urban planning in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, tracing the legacy of shortsighted political and financial gains that has resulted in an urban region on the brink of disaster. He seeks to offer a fresh perspective on the city's sprawl.
Available from Planners Book Service. Click on the title above.

Katz, Bruce, Ed. Reflections on Regionalism. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2000.

"These essays have been written in the hope that reflections on past experiences will provide some kind of road map through this period of fast, far-reaching changes." From the Editor's notes. Includes case studies of regionalism in action in Minnesota, California, Oregon, and elsewhere.
Available from Planners Book Service. Click on the title above.

Review from the Citistates Group.
Some rather pointed commentary from NARPAC (the National Association to Restore Pride in America's Capital).

Rural Planning

Richardson, Jean. Partnerships in Communities: Reweaving the Fabric of Rural America. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2000.

Following an introductory chapter that describes what is happening in rural America today and examines the institutions and natural resource base upon which rural communities depend, the book: addresses the need for self-directed community development; sets forth a comprehensive approach based on the EPIC experience; describes efforts to revitalize working rural landscapes, including organization building, pasture management, historic preservation, and more; and uses case studies and personal stories of rural people to portray the critical role of leadership in community stewardship and conservation.

See review in Rural Development News, v24, #4, 2000.

Transportation Planning

Boarnet, Marlon G., and Randall Crane. Travel by Design: The Influence of Urban Form on Travel. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Can transportation problems be fixed by the right neighborhood design? The tremendous popularity of the "new urbanism" and "livable communities" initiatives suggests that many persons think so. As a systematic assessment of attempts to solve transportation problems through urban design, this book asks and answers three questions: Can such efforts work? Will they be put into practice? Are they a good idea?
Available from Planners Book Service. Click on the title above.

2000 Telecommunications Laws. Washington, D.C.: National Conference of State Legislatures, 2001.

The document lists by subject state telecommunications legislation signed into law in 2000. Subject areas include: 911, cable television, cellular services, crime, deregulation, disabilities, enhanced 911 (E911), public utilities commissions, rights of way, slamming, taxation, telemarketing/consumer rights, telephone cards, universal service, video, and miscellaneous laws. The document also contains a summary chart.