During his three terms as mayor of Curitiba, Brazil in the 1970s and ‘80s, architect and urbanist Jaime Lerner transformed his city into a global model of the sustainable and livable community. From the pioneering Bus Rapid Transit system to parks designed to catch runoff and reduce flooding and the creation of pedestrian-only zones, Lerner has been the driving force behind a host of innovative urban projects. In more than forty years of work in cities around the globe, Lerner has found th...

In this provocative collection of essays, renowned architect Daniel Solomon delves into the complexities of what makes a city vibrant. Acknowledging that a city is not a static thing, he argues we need to pay more attention to nurturing what he calls “continuous cities.” In such a city, he says, “new buildings, new institutions, and new technologies don’t rip apart the old and wreck it. They accommodate, they act with respect, and they add vibrant new chapters to history without eradicatin...

City Rules offers a challenge to students and professionals in urban planning, design, and policy to change the rules of city-building, using regulations to reinvigorate, rather than stifle, our communities. Emily Talen demonstrates that regulations are a primary detriment to the creation of a desirable urban form. While many contemporary codes encourage sprawl and even urban blight, that hasn't always been the case-and it shouldn't be in the future.Talen provides a visually rich h...

At its most basic, historic preservation is about keeping old places alive, in active use, and relevant to the needs of communities today. As cities across America experience a remarkable renaissance, and more and more young, diverse families choose to live, work, and play in historic neighborhoods, the promise and potential of using our older and historic buildings to revitalize our cities is stronger than ever.This urban resurgence is a national phenomenon, boosting cities from C...

Sustainable design is booming, but the men and women dedicated to reducing their carbon impact have lost sight of what they are trying to save: the natural world. Author Neil Chambers has been at the forefront of cutting-edge, sustainable architecture for years, and Urban Green is his revolutionary vision for bringing the power of the conservation and design movements together. He advocates looking to nature for the missing components of the green revolution: oysters that can clea...

The Maker City Playbook is a comprehensive case studies and how-to information useful for city leaders, civic innovators, nonprofits, and others engaged in urban economic development. The Maker City Playbook is committed to going beyond stories to find patterns and discern promising practices to help city leaders make even more informed decisions.Maker City PlaybookChapter 1: Introduction and a Call to ActionChapter 2: The Maker movement an...

Urbanization is occurring at an unprecedented rate; by 2050 three quarters of the world’s people will live in urban environments. The cars we drive, products we consume, houses we live in and technology we use will all determine how sustainable our cities will be. Bridging the increasing divide between cross-disciplinary academic insights and the latest practical innovations, Resilient Sustainable Cities provides an integrated approach for long term future planning within ...

In the absence of federal leadership, states and localities are stepping forward to address critical problems like climate change, urban sprawl, and polluted water and air. Making a city fundamentally sustainable is a daunting task, but fortunately, there are dynamic, innovative models outside U.S. borders. Green Cities of Europe draws on the world's best examples of sustainability to show how other cities can become greener and more livable.Timothy Beatley has brought together lea...

Back to the Future explores new urbanism and urban revitalization within the context of public policy trends such as regional governance and the role of nonprofits. The purpose of this book is to provide students and professionals alike with a context for examining the beginnings of new urbanism, as well as to illustrate how this movement has become a nationwide trend in response to changing demographics and the real estate crisis. The book primarily utilizes comparative case studies withi...

CITYGREEN, winner of the APEX Awards for Publication Excellence for three consecutive years - 2014, 2013 and 2012, is a biannual publication of the Centre for Urban Greenery & Ecology, Singapore. It presents current research on greening and ecology of the urban environment, and features outstanding green projects in international cities. This issue rounds up a number of project features that impressively demonstrate skyrise greenery, such as the PARKROYAL on Pickering hotel by WOHA Archite...

Unprecedented challenges await the future of the world's cities. Accelerating population pressure, climate change, food insecurity, poverty and geopolitical instability – in the face of such problems our current attempts at producing a sustainable agenda for the world's cities appear fragmented and inadequate. Fresh thinking is needed.In Remaking Cities, renowned design theorist Tony Fry brings a conceptual design perspective to the challenge of urban sustainability and re...

This exposition presents the blueprint for a future city. Its detailed design is a complete overhaul of contemporary layouts and bestows numerous new benefits. Some of the highlights are: every residential property overlooks a park; pedestrians never cross the path of a vehicle; commuters travel from point to point without encountering an intersection; nobody walks from their car to their destination.Like a glass walled terrarium, this city will be self-sustaining. All the required...