What's New

March 2002

Built Environment

Boomburbs: The Emergence of Large, Fast-Growing Suburban Cities in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Fannie Mae Foundation, 2001.

A new type of large, rapidly growing suburban city (or "Boomburb") emerged in the latter part of the 20th century along with the Sunbelt and the suburban-dominated metropolis. When late 19th and early 20th century satellite cities reached a large scale, they developed as dense urban cores. But as Boomburbs grow into big "cities," most remain essentially suburban in character. Just as satellite cities reflected the dominant urban pattern of their time, Boomburbs may be the ultimate symbol of the sprawling postwar metropolitan form. Boomburbs are defined as places with more than 100,000 residents that are not the largest city in their metropolitan areas and have maintained double-digit rates of population growth in recent decades. The United States currently contains 53 Boomburbs: four top 300,000 in population, eight surpass 200,000, and 41 exceed 100,000 people. This Census Note follows these important but seldom-recognized places, which accounted for over half (51 percent) of 1990s growth in cities with between 100,000 and 400,000 residents. Boomburbs now contain a quarter of all people who live in such places.

Marshall, Alex. How Cities Work: Suburbs, Sprawl, and the Roads Not Taken. Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, 2000.

Marshall argues that urban life has broken down because of our basic ignorance of the real forces that shape cities — transportation systems, industry and business, and political decision making. He explores how these forces have built four very different urban environments — the decentralized sprawl of California's Silicon Valley, the crowded streets of New York City's Jackson Heights neighborhood, the controlled growth of Portland, Oregon, and the stage-set facades of Disney's planned community, Celebration, Florida. Marshall has his own website with extended excerpts and reviews (positive of course).

Wolff-Lyon Architects. The Stapleton Design Book. Denver, Colo.: Department of Planning and Community Development, 2000.

The Stapleton Design Book guides the development of the initial neighborhoods at the 4,700-acre retired airport — the nation's largest recycling of urban land. The book provides the detailed design elements supporting the pioneering vision and principles of the 1995 Stapleton Development Plan, commonly known as the "Green Book." According to the vision's principles, new communities must adhere to high standards of urban design and must enhance the environmental quality of the site and surrounding neighborhoods.

See the June 2001 Planning magazine article that discusses the Stapleton Design Book, among other issues.

Environmental Planning

Dunster, Julian, and Katherine Dunster. Dictionary of Natural Resource Management. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1996.

Provides a single source of definitions of natural resource management terms. It includes more than 6,000 entries, many of them illustrated and annotated, and a detailed set of appendices covering conversion factors, geological time scales, and classifications of organisms. The body of the dictionary encompasses terminology from the traditional fields of forestry, silviculture, pest management, forest fire control, geology, engineering, and planning. In addition, there are terms from the emerging disciplines of landscape ecology, conservation biology, conflict resolution, and sustainable development planning.
Available from Planners Book Service. Click on the title above.

Kemmis, Daniel. This Sovereign Land: A New Vision for Governing the West. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2001.

Daniel Kemmis offers a radical new proposal for giving the West control over its land. Unlike those who wish to privatize the public lands and let market forces decide their fate, Kemmis, a leading western Democrat and committed environmentalist, argues for keeping the public lands public, but for shifting jurisdiction over them from nation to region. In place of the current centralized management, he offers a regional approach that takes into account natural topographical and ecological features, and brings together local residents with a vested interest in ensuring the sustainability of their communities. In effect, Kemmis carries to their logical conclusion the recommendations about how the West should be governed made by John Wesley Powell more than a century ago.

A positive review from Issues in Science and Technology (Summer 2001).

Laws Influencing Community-Based Conservation in Colorado and the American West: A Primer. Denver: Natural Resources Law Center, 2000.

Precious Heritage: The Status of Biodiversity in the United States. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.

From Scientific American: This comprehensive (and extremely handsome) book analyzes patterns of biological diversity in the U.S. — a vast area that stretches from above the Arctic Circle to below the Tropic of Cancer. The country's 200,000 species (double previous counts) are not faring well. Roughly one third are at risk; 500 are already extinct or missing. Precious Heritage identifies the first ever "hot spots" where conservation efforts would be especially important, and challenges us to consider the scale of habitat conservation that will be needed to protect entire ecological systems. Some of the leading experts on the subject, E.O. Wilson writes in the foreword, "invite us to turn inward, not by abandoning global conservation but by conserving our own fauna and flora in a manner that will set a shining example for the rest of the world."
Available from Planners Book Service. Click on the title above.

Growth Management

City of Dallas Growth Policy Plan. Dallas: Department of Planning and Development, 1987.

Creating Communities of Learning: Schools and Smart Growth in New Jersey. Trenton, N.J.: Office of State Planning, 2001.

This public outreach newsletter is designed to leverage the building of new schools throughout the state for opportunities to build community; part of a half-day symposium on schools and smart growth co-sponsored by the Office of State Planning and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. The report demonstrates how a community-based school model represents a crucial strategy for achieving the goals of the state plan.

Kehde, Karl. Smart Land Development. South Burlington, Vt.: LUFNET, 1999.

This citizen's guidebook for neighbors, environmental groups, developers, planners, realtors, attorneys, and board members is the result of 10 years of grant-funded research. Presenting a viable solution to "sprawl," this book shows anyone how to help create and gain approvals for land development that improves local property values, reduces traffic congestion, enhances natural and historic resources, and builds community spirit. For more about Karl Kehde, visit his website.
Available from Planners Book Service. Click on the title above.

Nolon, John R. Well Grounded: Using Local Land Use Authority to Achieve Smart Growth. Washington, D.C.: Environmental Law Institute, 2001.

The book places land-use practice into the national perspective of sprawl and smart growth by fully describing one of the nation's most complete state land-use regimes — the New York system. The New York system is highly textured, and it is typical of the approaches and techniques used in most of the other 49 states.

Smart Growth Conference 2001. Albany, N.Y.: Audubon New York, 2002.

Proceedings of the third annual Smart Growth Conference, April 23, 2001, Empire State Plaza in Albany, New York.

Planning History

Hartman, Chester. Between Eminence and Notoriety: Four Decades of Radical Urban Planning. New Brunswick, N.J.: Center for Urban Policy Research, 2002.

In a career that spanned America's turbulent journey from urban renewal through the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War, the affluent '80s, and the ever-widening economic chasm that engulfed whole populations as the United States entered the 21st century, Chester Hartman has been front and center with the energy and commitment that propelled his life's work as an urban planner and social activist. In 32 colorful, no-holds-barred chapters, the reader accompanies Hartman through four decades of planning and activism for social equity. Now executive director of the Washington, D.C.–based Poverty & Race Research Action Council, Hartman chronicles his work from Boston to San Francisco; from Cuba to Paris; from a focus on gentrification and displacement to public and military-family housing; from interactions with Daniel Patrick Moynihan and James Q. Wilson to Paul Davidoff and Harvey Milk; from his work with Urban Planning Aid in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to the formation of the Planners Network.

Planning and Zoning Legislation

Gerard, Jules B. Local Regulation of Adult Businesses: 2002 Edition. St. Paul, Minn.: West Group, 2001.

Provides detailed, informed advice on the application of regulatory devices on adult businesses, primarily focusing on obscenity, zoning, licensing, and nuisance control. Explains which forms of speech are not entitled to constitutional protection, and why zoning ordinances are currently the most popular form of regulating adult entertainment. Discusses recent United States Supreme Court rulings, and how zoning ordinances have survived constitutional challenges in the courts. Covers the common inclusion of licensing laws into schemes to control obscenity and explains how the modern free speech doctrine challenges ancient nuisance rules. Examines general principles of constitutional limitations and regulations of adult businesses.

Population

Pack, Janet Rothenberg. Growth and Convergence in Metropolitan America. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2002.

The book analyzes per capita incomes, poverty and unemployment rates, and educational attainment among 277 metropolitan regions between 1960 and 1990. Pack's analysis reveals a strong connection between regional growth and improved socioeconomic vitality.

Redevelopment

Rue, Harrison Bright. Real Towns: Making Your Neighborhoods Work. Sacramento, Calif.: Local Government Commission, 2000.

"This is an extraordinary book. At last the basics of good town planning have been translated into plain English and straightforward images to provide America's 'citizen planners' with the tools they need to reclaim their communities."
— Robert Yaro, Executive Director, Regional Plan Association
Available from Planners Book Service. Click on the title above.

Zielenbach, Sean. The Art of Revitalization: Improving Conditions in Distressed Inner-City Neighborhoods. New York: Garland Publishing, 2000.

The book discusses the revitalization of decayed inner city neighborhoods. Focusing on two Chicago neighborhoods as case studies, the text examines the regional and national factors that affect urban development as well as the specific local characteristics that impact revitalization.