The fateful year 2020 brought dramatic challenges to American cities. The COVID-19 pandemic and the civil unrest caused by the killing of George Floyd led to a cascade of negative media stories about cities, often politically motivated. It seemed possible that the economic and demographic gains cities had achieved over the last few decades could be lost. In fact, there has been measurable population loss in larger cities caused by changing work/life patterns and changing public perceptions...

The Routledge Companion to Professional Awareness and Diversity in Planning Education engenders a discourse on how urban planning as a discipline is being made attractive to children and youth as they consider their career preferences. It also provides a discourse around the diversity challenges facing the institutions for training urban planning professionals.This Companion is an impressive collection of initiatives, experiences, and lessons in helping children, ...

This trailblazing book outlines an interdisciplinary "process model" for urban design that has been developed and tested over time. Its goal is not to explain how to design a specific city precinct or public space, but to describe useful steps to approach the transformation of urban spaces. Urban Ecological Design illustrates the different stages in which the process is organized, using theories, techniques, images, and case studies. In essence, it presents a "how-to" method to transform t...

The Companion to Public Space draws together an outstanding multidisciplinary collection of specially commissioned chapters that offer the state of the art in the intellectual discourse, scholarship, research, and principles of understanding in the construction of public space.Thematically, the volume crosses disciplinary boundaries and traverses territories to address the philosophical, political, legal, planning, design, and management issues in the social construction o...

"A timely and smart discussion of how different cities and regions have made a changing economy work for them—and how policymakers can learn from that." —Barack ObamaWe're used to thinking of the United States in opposing terms: red versus blue, haves versus have-nots. But today there are three Americas. At one extreme are the brain hubs—cities like San Francisco, Boston, and Durham—with workers who are among the most productive, creative, and best paid on the plane...

Fully revised for a second edition, this essential guide provides a concise and accessible overview of the public policy process: agenda-setting, policy formulation, decision-making, implementation, and evaluation.The book provides an introduction to the key policy functions, the challenges they entail, and how the challenges may be addressed by policy actors. Written from a comparative perspective, the authors include examples from a diverse range of countries at different stages ...

In the age of globalization, some claim that where you live doesn't't matter: Alaska, Idaho, and Alabama are interchangeable. The world is, after all, flat.Not so fast. Place, argues the great urbanist Richard Florida, is not only important, it's more important than ever. In fact, choosing a place to live is as important to your happiness as choosing a spouse or career. And some regions, recent surveys show, really are happier than others. In Who's Your City, Creative Clas...

Public organizations matter, now more than ever. Be it hospitals providing us healthcare, schools offering us education, police officers keeping our streets safe, museums safeguarding our cultural heritage, one can provide multiple examples of how public organizations impact our daily lives. But running public organizations is complex and expectations towards these organizations have never been greater — they need to be efficient and effective, provide high-quality and equitable services, ...

Organizations turn to multistakeholder partnerships (MSPs) to meet challenges that they cannot handle alone. By tapping the resources of diverse stakeholders, MSPs develop the capability to address complex issues and problems, such as health care delivery, poverty, human rights, watershed management, education, sustainability, and innovation. This book provides a comprehensive understanding of MSPs, why they are needed, the challenges partners face in working together and how to design the...

A degree is no longer a passport to success in today’s job market.Going to university used to be a passport to future success, but that’s no longer the case. For some students, it’s still a good choice that leads to a successful career after graduation, but for many their degrees are worthless pieces of paper. Choose the wrong program and graduation is more likely to lead to disillusionment and debt than a steady paycheque.Yet parents, guidance counselors, and politicians s...

The New Localism provides a roadmap for change that starts in the communities where most people live and work.In their new book, The New Localism, urban experts Bruce Katz and Jeremy Nowak reveal where the real power to create change lies and how it can be used to address our most serious social, economic, and environmental challenges.Power is shifting in the world: downward from national governments and states to cities and metropolitan com...

The fourth edition of Community Organizing and Community Building for Health and Social Equity provides both classic and recent contributions to the field, with a special accent on how these approaches can contribute to health and social equity. The 23 chapters offer conceptual frameworks, skill- building and case studies in areas like coalition building, organizing by and with women of color, community assessment, and the power of the arts, the Internet, social media, and policy ...