What's New

May 2002

Agricultural Districts

Thompson, Edward. Agricultural Sustainability and Smart Growth: Saving Urban-Influenced Farmland. Washington, D.C.: American Farmland Trust, 2001.

The report addresses the threat sprawl poses to farmland closest to urban areas. It looks at the existing condition of these agricultural resources, analyzes best practices in farmland protection, and addresses community planning and growth management.

Built Environment/Urban Design

Kolson, Kenneth. Big Plans: The Allure and Folly of Urban Design. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.

"A work similar in spirit to Lewis Mumford's The City in History and Jane Jacobs' The Death and Life of Great American Cities with a distinctive postmodern tone and perspective. Wonderful, funny, idiosyncratic — Big Plans is an original. Anyone interested in cities will want to read this book. It will be of special interest to professionals and practitioners in planning, architecture, and landscape design, as well as students and scholars in architecture and planning, urban studies, geography, American studies, history and sociology." —Frederick Steiner, professor and director of the School of Planning and Landscape Architecture, College of Architecture and Environmental Design, Arizona State University

Loeb, Carolyn S. Entrepreneurial Vernacular: Developers' Subdivisions in the 1920s. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.

Suburban subdivisions of individual family homes are so familiar a part of the American landscape that it is hard to imagine a time when they were not common in the U.S. The shift to large-scale speculative subdivisions is usually attributed to the period after World War II. In Entrepreneurial Vernacular: Developers' Subdivisions in the 1920s, Loeb shows that the precedents for this change in single-family home design were the result of concerted efforts by entrepreneurial realtors and other housing professionals during the 1920s.

Rogers, Millard F. John Nolen and Mariemont: Building a New Town in Ohio. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.

This is the first book to examine the planning and building of Mariemont and one of the few books to focus on the process of American town planning in the early 20th century. Regarded in the 1920s as an exemplar of planned communities, Mariemont remains one of America's most livable suburbs and has drawn great interest from the New Urbanism movement.

Economic Development

Gottlieb, Paul D. Growth Without Growth: An Alternative Economic Development Goal for Metropolitan Areas. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 2002.

This report examines whether cities can "grow without growth." That is, can they increase per capita income without increasing population. The report looks at long-term population and per capita income growth trends in the largest 100 metropolitan areas, classifies areas on their ability to increase per capita income without population increases, and analyzes the policy implications for regional economic development strategies.

Environmental Planning

Coastal Sprawl: The Effects of Urban Design on Aquatic Ecosystems in the United States. Arlington, Va.: Pew Oceans Commission, 2002.

With more than half the nation living along the coast, changes are needed to preserve aquatic habitats. In his report for the independent Pew Oceans Commission, Dana Beach of the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League details the effects of urban design and land-use practices on aquatic ecosystems in the United States. Beach presents new strategies and tools that communities may use to preserve the same ecosystems that attract residents, tourists, and businesses to the coasts.

Schueler, Thomas R., and Heather K. Holland, Eds. Practice of Watershed Protection. Ellicott City, Md.: Center for Watershed Protection, 2000.

This is a very complete compendium of material from the Center for Watershed Protection, drawn mostly from past issues of their journal Watershed Protection Techniques.

Weinberg, Adam S., David N. Pellow, and Allan Schnaiberg. Urban Recycling and the Search for Sustainable Community Development. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2000.

More Americans recycle than vote. And most do so to improve their communities and the environment. But do recycling programs advance social, economic, and environmental goals? To answer this, three sociologists with expertise in urban and environmental planning have conducted the first major study of urban recycling. They compare four types of programs in the Chicago metropolitan area: a community-based drop-off center, a municipal curbside program, a recycling industrial park, and a linkage program. Their conclusion, admirably elaborated, is that recycling can realize sustainable community development, but that current programs achieve few benefits for the communities in which they are located.

See an extensive book review by Kohei Watanabe.

Growth Management

Benfield, F. Kaid, Jutka Terris, and Nancy Vorsanger. Solving Sprawl: Models of Smart Growth in Communities Across America. New York: Natural Resources Defense Council, 2001.

The book details 35 diverse smart-growth stories from around the United States and celebrates those who are leading the way in solving sprawl — state and local officials who have embraced new forms of development, corporations who are choosing to redevelop abandoned city properties rather than build new corporate campuses on undeveloped land, faith-based organizations that have been instrumental in redeveloping inner-city neighborhoods, visionary architects and planners who are showing how to design communities and regions that solve sprawl.

The Builders' Guide to the APA Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook. Washington, D.C.: National Association of Home Builders, 2002.

Prepared by NAHB to assist its members in the "coming struggle" against APA.

Campoli, Julie, Elizabeth Humstone, and Alex MacLean. Above and Beyond: Visualizing Change in Small Towns and Rural Areas. Chicago: Planners Press, 2002.

Using the state of Vermont as the rural ideal, the authors compare contemporary vs. traditional development to demonstrate how today's primary way of developing land — suburban sprawl — is forever changing the look of rural American. Using a host of aerial photographs — many altered through computer simulation to illustrate how landscapes are transformed over time — Above and Beyond argues for a return to traditional development patterns that produce more compact cities and towns.
Available from Planners Book Service online. Click on the title above.

Nelson, Arthur C. The Link Between Growth Management and Housing Affordability: The Academic Evidence. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 2002.

This paper is a comprehensive review of academic literature on the link between growth management and housing affordability. It concludes that the market is the primary determinant of housing prices, and that sound growth management policies provide more affordable housing than traditional land-use policies.

Smart Growth Audit: Pima County Comprehensive Plan Update. Tucson, Ariz.: Pima County Planning and Development Services, 2001.

This study provides a thoughtful and timely assessment of how Pima County's practices and policy proposals in land use stand up under the test of nationally recognized principles of smart growth. It distills the literature of modern land-use planning into eight basic principles and then compares these standards with local practice and policy. The eight principles fall into three categories: land use category, infrastructure, and development process.

Hazard Mitigation

Regional Emergency Preparedness Compacts: Safeguarding the Nation's Communities. Mountain View, Calif.: Alliance for Regional Stewardship, 2002.

Report analyzes the need for regional cooperation in emergency preparedness, citing events from September 11 as evidence. It addresses the current state of regional preparedness, looks at promising regional approaches and suggests that regional compacts offer the best hope for cooperation. The term "regional compact" refers to agreements negotiated among public, private, and civic interests to address challenges that cut across jurisdictions.

Housing

Forging Partnerships: Overcoming Community Resistance to Developing Workforce Housing. Washington, D.C.: Urban Land Institute, 2001.

ULI and the Campaign for Sensible Growth partnered with the cities of Chicago, Hanover Park, and Highland Park to study barriers to affordable housing in these cities. The report offers recommendations such as using transit-oriented design to encourage mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented developments for middle-income residents; employing land trusts and affordable housing trust funds to promote the development of affordable housing; and using inclusionary zoning, voluntary set-asides, and bonus provisions to engender housing development.

Trends in Housing Affordability: Memorandum. Tucson, Ariz.: Pima County Planning and Development Services, 2001.

Summarizes three studies on the topic of housing: Housing in Pima County, Impact Fee and Affordable Housing Study, and the Inclusionary Housing Study. It discusses attached data that show trends in housing affordability from 1975 through 2001.

Neo-Traditional Planning

New Community Design to the Rescue: Fulfilling Another American Dream. Washington, D.C.: National Governors' Association, 2001.

Vibrant neighborhoods of housing, parks, and schools within walking distance of shops, civic services, jobs, and transit is an antidote to sprawl and a powerful tool for addressing many quality-of-life issues like traffic congestion, according to a new report by the National Governors' Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices. "New Community Design to the Rescue: Fulfilling Another American Dream" is the final report released under a year-long exploration to determine the shape of future growth established by Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening, chairman of the NGA.

Open Space

Land Vote 2001: Americans Invest in Parks and Open Space. San Francisco: Trust for Public Land, 2001.

A comprehensive annual accounting of state and local ballot measures for parks and open space.

Planning - General Works

Allmendinger, Philip, and Michael Chapman, Eds. Planning Beyond 2000. Chichester: Wiley, 1999.

Contributing authors from the top British planning schools consider how planning policy will be formulated and implemented in the new millennium. Both history and current trends are examined along with issues of sustainability, urban regeneration, the planning profession, environmental and transport policy, social exclusion, and more. This much-needed treatment focuses on the revival in the 1990s of planing policy from the negative impact of the Thatcherite policies of the 1980s.

Planning Law

Blaesser, Brian W. Discretionary Land Use Controls: Avoiding Invitations to Abuse of Discretion. S.l.: West Group, 2001.

Smart Codes in Your Community: A Guide to Building Rehabilitation Codes. Washington, D.C.: HUD, 2001.

Provides a broad overview of the general regulatory environment governing the use and reuse of existing buildings. It also provides examples of state and local efforts to reduce regulatory complexity and suggests possible strategies to help spur reinvestment in the existing building infrastructure.

Zoning Regulations of the Town of Stowe, Vermont. Stowe, Vt.: The Town, 2002.

Adopted 2/25/2002, effective 3/19/02. Includes landscaping, signs, and overlay districts in addition to general regulations.

Redevelopment

Belmont, Steve. Cities in Full: Recognizing and Realizing the Great Potential of Urban America. Chicago: Planners Press, 2002.

Steve Belmont embraces Jane Jacobs's much acclaimed prescription for urban vitality — high densities, mixed land uses, small blocks, and variously aged buildings. He examines neighborhoods that adhere to her precepts and those that do not and compares the results. He examines the destructive forces of decentralization and shows how and why they must be turned into forces of renewal. The author outlines an agenda for recentralizing commerce, housing, and transportation infrastructure and discusses how recentralization is affected by poor social and economic conditions. He analyzes the deficiencies of current low-income housing policy and offers a strategy more favorable to cities and their metropolitan areas.
Available from Planners Book Service online. Click on the title above.

Changing Faces: New Trends in Reinventing Communities. Chicago: Campaign for Sensible Growth, 2000.

The examples highlighted in this guidebook are representative of the growing number of redevelopment and infill projects being built today. This is a sampling of "best" projects, many of which have won regional or national awards. A number of the projects highlighted are buildings that have been adapted for another use, while others serve as catalysts for community development.

Downtowns of the Future: Opportunities for Regional Stewards. Mountain View, Calif.: Alliance for Regional Stewardship, 2001.

Report discusses how strong central cities are critical to regional success. It analyzes demographic and cultural trends in large cities, including business trends. It argues that most cities succeed because they are determined to do so and offers a view of the evolving downtown. The report offers recommendations for how regions can build creative downtowns.

From Barracks to Business: The MIT Report on Base Redevelopment. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Economic Development Administration, 2000.

Based on a nationwide study of how local communities responded to federal base closures. The report uses a case study approach, visiting 26 sites over a two-year period; it looks at how communities confronted redevelopment tasks and economic challenges.

Rural Planning

Herr, Philip B. Maine Place: A Guide and Self-Diagnostic Checklist for Protecting Your Town's Character. Boston: National Trust for Historic Preservation, Northeast Regional Office, 2001.

This guidebook offers advice to community residents and public officials on protecting community character through sound growth policies, economic development policies, natural resource protection and historic preservation. The document is particularly geared towards small towns in Maine; it contains an overview of community conservation efforts there. It offers a diagnostic checklist to help communities identify areas of interest. The checklist includes issues like managing town form, basic development controls, agriculture and forestry support, timing of change, housing affordability, visual impacts, and historic and cultural resource protection. Lastly, it provides a list of resources for information on protecting community character.

Structures

Pagano, Michael A. Vacant Land in Cities: An Urban Resource. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 2000.

This study reports findings on the amount of vacant or abandoned properties in large cities, based on a survey. It asserts that vacant land and abandoned properties represent a key competitive asset for implementing economic development strategies such as creating jobs, raising tax revenues, improving transportation infrastructure, and attracting new residents.

Urban Design

Lake Forest Character Study. Lake Forest, Ill.?: Thompson Dyke & Associates, Ltd., 2000.

This report is intended to identify and preserve the character of the historic Lake Forest central business district by attempting to control its future development in the face of changes (particularly big-box development) in retailing in the Chicago area.