Library
How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape Our World
We will discuss a book that shows us the infrastructure systems around us and helps us see their challenges and opportunities. The greatest challenges: adapting these systems to climate change as we transition them to new forms of energy. Another challenge: There are major issues with aging infrastructure, including water and sewers. We have experience…
Urbanism Without Effort: Reconnecting with First Principles of the City
We will discuss a book that cautions urbanists not to get carried away by urban design concepts and public policies. It’s because, the book warns, while mixed uses, transit-oriented design and bike lanes may be helpful and even necessary, they aren’t sufficient to make cities come to life. What is needed? Basically, the unplanned parts…
Fragile Neighborhoods: Repairing American Society, One Zip Code at a Time
“Fragile Neighborhoods” is a book with a warning: American society is unraveling. But it offers a way out. We can undo much of the damage, the book says, if we create more resilient neighborhoods. And the secret to resilience is creating places that connect people and encourage cooperation among neighbors. One of the book’s examples…
Bicycle City: Riding the Bike Boom to a Brighter Future
“Bicycle City” is a book about how bikes can serve as “intermediaries” in helping cities move from car-created sprawl toward something more desirable: walkable, transit-oriented, “people-centric” communities. Good news, the author says: Thanks to innovations like e-bikes and cargo bikes, the transition can be fairly rapid. Dan Piatkowski is an American-born professor of urban planning…
Brave New Home: Our Future in Smarter, Simpler, Happier Housing
“Brave New Home” is a book about why suburban single-family housing no longer works as well for families as it once did. It suggests alternatives that are healthier, better for the environment and more affordable, and outlines what it would take to move from a “default housing type” to a variety of housing options. Diana…
The Pool Is Closed: Segregation, Summertime, and the Search for a Place to Swim
“The Pool Is Closed: Segregation, Summertime, and the Search for a Place to Swim” is a book about how children learn to swim and grow into adults who enjoy swimming—and why this can be difficult for urban children today. Reason: There are not enough public swimming pools. As you’ll learn, there once were more public…
The Death and Life of Great American Cities
“The Death and Life of Great American Cities” is a classic book about urbanism. It warned city leaders in 1961 that they were killing cities through their efforts to build highways, demolish old neighborhoods and construct public housing projects. And it described in detail what actually makes neighborhoods and cities safe and successful. The essential…
The 15-Minute City: A Solution to Saving Our Time and Our Planet
“The 15-Minute City” is a plea for urban leaders to rethink how neighborhoods work. The change it advocates: Bring nearly everything people need for daily life within a 15-minute walk, bike ride or bus ride, including housing, work, shopping, health care, education and entertainment. If we did this, the book argues, neighborhoods and cities would…
Arrival City: How the Largest Migration in History Is Reshaping Our World
“Arrival City” shows us how migrants come to cities around the world, what they experience as they move from rural villages, and what they need in order to be successful in the transition. The places they settle are neighborhoods the author calls “arrival cities.” Doug Saunders is a journalist at Toronto’s Globe and Mail newspaper….
Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time
“Walkable City” explains why cities should create and grow walkable places, and how it can be done. Walkable downtowns and neighborhoods, the book argues, are the key to healthy, prosperous, affordable and appealing cities, and make other urbanist goals, like transit, mixed uses, bike lanes and density possible. Jeff Speck is a city planner who…