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EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think, to Create the World We Want Review

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EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think, to Create the World We Want ReviewEcoMind is not an "environmental" book. It is a book about power. It addresses how and why we have lost our own sense of agency and some ways to realize the power we need individually and as a society to create the world we want. Here is what BookList says about EcoMind:
In her eighteenth book, the paradigm-altering Lappe asks why we've failed to effectively address environmental problems. Delving into neuroscience, anthropology, and history, and sharing her own extensive field experiences, she argues that perception is key. She surgically disassembles "seven thought traps," or discouraging environmentalist messages that arouse guilt, fear, and despair instead of a sense of mission. On the positive side, she presents fascinating interpretations of "six human traits we can count on," including cooperation, empathy, fairness, creativity, and the fact that we are "doers." Brimming with useful information and analysis pertaining to developing renewable energy and eradicating waste, Lappe's lucid extrapolation of the core lesson of ecology, that everything is connected, also offers galvanizing dissections of the intensifying influence of corporations on government and the derailment of democracy. Equally compelling are her insights into how accelerating wealth inequality contributes to environmental degradation as well as poverty and why struggling people support "policies that hurt them." Lappe's recalibrated guide to becoming ecominded affirms our "capacity to rethink our world" and provides many urgent reasons to do so.
EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think, to Create the World We Want OverviewIn EcoMind, Frances Moore Lappé-a giant of the environmental movement-confronts accepted wisdom of environmentalism. Drawing on the latest research from anthropology to neuroscience and her own field experience, she argues that the biggest challenge to human survival isn't our fossil fuel dependency, melting glaciers, or other calamities. Rather, it's our faulty way of thinking about these environmental crises that robs us of power. Lappé dismantles seven common "thought traps"-from limits to growth to the failings of democracy- that belie what we now know about nature, including our own, and offers contrasting "thought leaps" that reveal our hidden power.
Like her Diet for a Small Planet classic, EcoMind is challenging, controversial and empowering.

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Cities in the Wilderness: A New Vision of Land Use in America Review

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Cities in the Wilderness: A New Vision of Land Use in America ReviewFinally, an environmental book that offers a clear alternative to misty-eyed, ain't-that-wondrous, nature books and apocalyptic, end-of-the-world environmental wake-up calls. As well laid-out as a textbook, it describes five regions of the country in various stages of environmental decay, the pragmatic steps taken to restore them, the political forces at play, and the actual results of the efforts.
Non-ideological in tone, the book draws the reader into each situation by describing the environmental stakes, but the real payoff is the fascinating details about how major environmental advances are actually put together. One of the surprises for this reviewer is the ambivalent role played by environmental groups, who appear often as antagonists to the final deal; another was the minimal amount of criticism of the current administration, with even that amount given with more sorrow than venom. But perhaps I should have expected that; the author is too busy convincing us of his vision of ecosystem management using Federal land-use policy to be distracted by cheap score-settling. And lest phrases like "Federal land-use policy" make this book sound like a think-tank report, the sweeping descriptions of our American lands and how we use them were gorgeous, and reminiscent of the best writings of Aldo Leopold.
There were a few topics I wish the author could have covered. His book illustrates again and again the importance of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in motivating land-use agreements; more discussion of the growing property rights movement and its attempts to change the ESA would have been topical. And given the ambivalent role played by environment groups, discussion of the best and worst of them, and how they could better achieve their goals, would have been useful. But overall, it was a great and refreshing read; it's about time for an environmental book to offer us, not just a tour of the troubles, but a clear and compelling path to get beyond them.Cities in the Wilderness: A New Vision of Land Use in America Overview
In this brilliant, gracefully written, and important new book, former Secretary of the Interior and Governor of Arizona Bruce Babbitt brings fresh thought to questions of how we can build a future we want to live in.

We've all experienced America's changing natural landscape as the integrity of our forests, seacoasts, and river valleys succumbs to strip malls, new roads, and subdivisions. Too often, we assume that when land is developed it is forever lost to the natural world--or hope that a patchwork of local conservation strategies can somehow hold up against further large-scale development.

In Cities in the Wilderness, Bruce Babbitt makes the case for why we need a national vision of land use. We may have a space program, he points out, but here at home we don't have an open-space policy that can balance the needs for human settlement and community with those for preservation of the natural world upon which life depends. Yet such a balance, the author demonstrates, is as remarkably achievable as it is necessary. This is no call for developing a new federal bureaucracy; Babbitt shows instead how much can be--and has been--done by making thoughtful and beneficial use of laws and institutions already in place.

Babbitt draws on his extensive experience to take us behind the scenes negotiating the Florida Everglades restoration project, the largest ever authorized by Congress. In California, we discover how the Endangered Species Act has been employed to restore regional habitat. In the Midwest, we see how new World Trade Organization regulations might be used to help restore Iowa's farmlands and rivers. As a key architect of many environmental success stories, Babbitt reveals how broad restoration projects have thrived through federal- state partnerships and how their principles can be extended to other parts of the country.

In this inspiring and informative book, Babbitt offers a vision of land use as grand as the country's natural heritage.

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The Regional City Review

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The Regional City ReviewThis is yet another book on a New Urbanist idea.
This one describes the idea of transit oriented communties. These are relatively dense planned communities that try to maintain what is seen as the essentials of small community life.
The density and distribution of these communities make them amenable to public transport. However more emphasis is placed on the development of community. Shopping facilities are centralized and made accessible to pedestrians. Public buildings and public space like squares are made central to the life of the community. The public buildings are given distinguished architecture to show their importance to the community. The public park or square is placed at the hub of planned pedestrian traffic to provide a place for unplanned meetings and interactions.
As it is this soert of community will probably work. The idea of the public square at a transportation crossroads as a means to creatre interaction is straight out of Bill Hillier's seminal work 'Space is the machine.' With proper attention to the principles presented by Hillier, there is no reason why a community designed in the way advocated here cannot produce the types of interactions advocated within this book.
However the book does not go far enough to truly identify what these principles are or even to state clearly and directly what basic principles are guiding the plans that it advocates. It would be possible to create developments that follow the plans described here that would work against the outcomes that it is advocating. Hillier's book, in its analysis of some modern housing estates based on similar goals, demosntrates this.
Yet there is something fundamentally wrong with this book. It is a basic statement of architectural determinism. Traditional suburbs are blamed for all problems in society from environmental pollution to school shootings and possibly even to asteroid impacts causing mass extinctions. There seems to be nothing wrong in society that is not the fault of suburbs and that cannot be fixed by these pedestrian-based communities.
The author acknowleges that the autonomy and privacy provided by the suburban form is attractive to many. He even states that his suggested community form is not antithetical to it. However following that one statement the remainder of the book is a jerimiad against suburban life. Privacy and autonomy references are replaced with descriptions of isolation and alienation.
The book would be more convincing if it remained an advocacy for its desired form. There is no doubt that this form if designed properly can foster the close community life that many people find very attractive. However not all people are attracted to this sort of life. Many people prefer the social autonomy that is provided to them in suburbs. With modern communication mechanisms like the telephone, Email, automobile etc, they can maintain multiple social netowkrs each with the social distance that they find comfortable. They are not forced to interact with a neighbor that they do not care for simply because his residence is nearby.
All in all this is a good book for its purpose. The unfortunate blathering about the short comings of suburbs distracts from its main purpsoe and weakens its argument. However many will find the small community life presented here very attractive.
It is worth reading despite these handicaps.The Regional City Overview

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Chatham Village: Pittsburgh's Garden City Review

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Chatham Village: Pittsburgh's Garden City ReviewAnyone who has ever lived in Chatham Village, or anyone who is interested in community planning will certainly be interested in this finely researched book about one of the country's first and most successful planned communities. Ms. Bamberg begins with a thorough history of the concept behind the idea for such a community. Admittedly, I had a special interest in the subject since I grew up in Chatham Village and my parents lived there for over 40 years. The author did a thorough job of bringing this concept community to life and juxtaposing it to other similar communities of the time. Photographs, some from the building phase over 80 years ago, brought added interest to the material.Chatham Village: Pittsburgh's Garden City Overview
Chatham Village, located in the heart of Pittsburgh, is an urban oasis that combines Georgian colonial revival architecture with generous greenspaces, recreation facilities, surrounding woodlands, and many other elements that make living there a unique experience. Founded in 1932, it has gained international recognition as an outstanding example of the American Garden City planning movement and was named a National Historic Landmark in 2005. Chatham Village was the brainchild of Charles F. Lewis, then director of the Buhl Foundation, a Pittsburgh-based charitable trust. Lewis sought an alternative to the substandard housing that plagued low-income families in the city. He hired the New York–based team of Clarence S. Stein and Henry Wright, followers of Ebenezer Howard's utopian Garden City movement, which sought to combine the best of urban and suburban living environments by connecting individuals to each other and to nature. Angelique Bamberg provides the first book-length study of Chatham Village, in which she establishes its historical significance to urban planning and reveals the complex development process, social significance, and breakthrough construction and landscaping techniques that shaped this idyllic community. She also relates the design of Chatham Village to the work of other pioneers in urban planning, including Frederick Law Olmsted Sr., landscape architect John Nolen, and the Regional Planning Association of America, and considers the different ways that Chatham Village and the later New Urbanist movement address a common set of issues. Above all, Bamberg finds that Chatham Village's continued viability and vibrance confirms its distinction as a model for planned housing and urban-based community living.

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Nurturing Dreams: Collected Essays on Architecture and the City Review

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Nurturing Dreams: Collected Essays on Architecture and the City ReviewBased on Maki, the book covers primarily two things.
1. contemporary city.
2. modernist philosophy and diverse phenomenat it generated.
It's a collection of handsome essays that help readers to understand
the mindset of this great architect and also the writing and practice
culture of Japan.
The first section of the book, "formative years", reveals Maki's early quest and thirst
in architecture. We went back and forth between nations and cultures to
embrace the globally accepted architecture and hone universally applicable
design skills. His memories and stories about former GSD Dean, Josep Lluis Sert,
is particularly fun read. His trip to historical towns and his relationship
with the heros of Team X is also a great personal story.
The second section, "collective form", tells Maki's long-sought-after urban
attitude. Based on the analysis of historical towns, Maki draws lasting principles
of collective form and constantly questions and reviews how it could be applied
to the different time zone with chaning living mode. The latter half of the chapter
is devoted to his Hillside Terrace Project. Over period of twenty five years,
in six different phases, Maki's theoretical urbanism manifesto is tested and evolved
through this project.
The third section of the book, "on the city", really shows Maki as an educator.
His research and his views on contemporary cities are well put together. Two essays on
Tokyo and one essay on his cremotorium really stands out. Three essays show how more or less
an outsider of Japanese-architects-circle (Maki studied/ practiced/ taught in the USA for over
ten years) distances himself from his native culture to throw fresh look to the community.
Moreover, the essays become dramatic because they show how Maki, an international figure,
uses universal language to draw out deep Japanese.
The last section, "on architects and architecture", explains how Maki thoroughly reviews
works of others. Two essays on Togo Murano and Yoshio Taniguchi really stands out.
It's informative not only in knowing the historical background of Japanese modern-contemporary
architecture and the two architects, but also in understanding Maki's own stance as an
architect. Mastery in Space and Materiality comes out as binding factors for the three architects.
All in all, a prospect reader will find, Maki as an apprentice, Maki as a (city) truth seeker,
Maki as an outsider (to be true insider), and Maki as a master. Few great architects in the world
practices richly what's been professed and Maki is one of them.

One last note:
Most of people know that star architects in Japan are great designers, however, not many know that they are also
great writers. Thanks to this publication of Maki's (and Isozaki's "Japaness in architecture"),intellectual force
of top Japanese architects is available in English. Kengo Kuma and Tadao Ando also wrote great books recently in Japan.
Hope their publication also become available to English audience soon.Nurturing Dreams: Collected Essays on Architecture and the City Overview

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Sustainability Management: Lessons from and for New York City, America, and the Planet Review

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Sustainability Management: Lessons from and for New York City, America, and the Planet ReviewThis book is a great learning tool. Many people are unaware of the true meaning of sustainability; however this book exposes sustainability and all of its factors. I appreciate the knowledge Cohen shares, and I'm excited to apply these principles to my career and everydaylife.Sustainability Management: Lessons from and for New York City, America, and the Planet OverviewCan we grow our world economy and create opportunities for the poor while keeping the planet intact? Can we maintain our vibrant, dynamic lifestyles while ensuring the Earth stays productive and viable? Aimed at managers, students, scholars, and policymakers,Sustainability Management answers these questions in the affirmative, arguing it is possible for environmentally sustainable business practices and policies to foster economic and long-term growth. Written by a former analyst and consultant with the EPA, this book originally combines sustainable efforts in water, agriculture, urban, and power management to achieve—in practice, not just in theory—a sustainable planet and economy. Steven Cohen begins with the technical, financial, managerial, and political challenges of such a project, and then honestly assesses sustainable practices in the manufacturing and service industries. He addresses renewable and carbon-free energy production; water sustainability, especially with regard to energy issues involving filtration, distribution, and changing rainfall patterns; food cultivation and distribution; and ways to maintain the interdependent systems on which we depend to live. Taking examples from New York City, one of the most sustainable and sustainability-minded metropolises in the world, Cohen explains how everything from construction to waste management can be designed to facilitate a sustainable environment, not just for New York but also for the world. He concludes with this macroscopic view, outlining the global efforts necessary to preserve biodiversity and ecosystems, and the impact of war, terrorism, and human conflict on sustainability.

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Historic Preservation and the Livable City Review

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Historic Preservation and the Livable City Review
Everything old is new again. This book tells us why. Not since Jane Jacobs' THE DEATH AND LIFE OF GREAT AMERICAN CITIES has a book so clearly drawn out the things that make a city livable. Turns out a lot of it has to do with a sense of time and place.

I learned a lot about myself and where I live (Greenwich Village). Though I guess the target audience is also planners, economic development people, preservationists, housing people, etc. - professionals whose job is making a city work and thrive. But this book is a gift for curious and innocent city dwellers like me who half killed themselves restoring old housing stock because it felt more like a place to live than some modern sheetrock box. Now I understand a lot more about why I did it.

The authors are also out to change opinions. The main argument is that heritage (historic) preservation needs to be integrated into the planning and upkeep of cities as an integral part of creating and maintaining livable environments, not treated as an impediment. Turns out it's actually cheaper in many cases to restore existing sturdy housing stock than to bulldoze it for structural crap. (No wonder luxury Park Avenue housing always advertises itself as "pre-war," code for plaster, not quarter-inch sheetrock.)

The book also provides a library's worth of case studies of cities across the country that have seen the light and renovated and saved their architectural heritage. This annotated catalogue (with a treasure trove of photos) is itself reason enough to include the book in any collection of record. It also convincingly argues for cities to include sustainability and heritage preservation in any comprehensive planning, cutting across all the different agencies involved. Given how historic preservation enriches us all, it should be a starting point, not an afterthought.

This book tells us in detail where we've been. I hope it also tells us where we're going.
Thomas Hoover
www.thomashoover.info
Historic Preservation and the Livable City OverviewFor both the preservation professional and urban planner, this book shows how preservation is a key to the creation of livable cities. The author Eric Allison, the founder and coordinated of the graduate historic preservation program at Pratt Institute in New York City, offers tools and case studies that preservationists and planners can learn from in implementing preservation projects or plans in cities large and small. This book is a must read for anyone working in or interested in these fields and the creation and maintenance of livable cities.

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Sustainable and Resilient Communities: A Comprehensive Action Plan for Towns, Cities, and Regions (Wiley Series in Sustainable Design) Review

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Sustainable and Resilient Communities: A Comprehensive Action Plan for Towns, Cities, and Regions (Wiley Series in Sustainable Design) ReviewHaving embarked on a sustainability plan without the aid or foresight of any type of guidebook or comprehensive strategy, I am extremely supportive of the effort that author Stephen Coyle has undertaken in compiling Sustainable and Resilient Communities. This book should be the "Read Me!" document for anyone looking to engage in sustainability planning efforts from a government or community perspective. It's not the first book that I've read on how to engage in sustainability efforts (honestly such titles are beginning to become "a dime a dozen"), but it is the first book that focuses on how to create an action plan to make a community more sustainable (rather than simply focusing on successful efforts in other areas). Coyle manages to provide realistic strategies that can easily be worked into the political context of almost any community without crossing into the fringe of developing technologies or antiquated reductionist themes.
Sustainable and Resilient Communities is broken down into 13 chapters which address the various facets of sustainability. The chapters are:
1.The Built Environments and Its Supporting Systems
2.The Process of Transformation
3.The Physical Built Environment
4.The Regulatory Environment
5.Transportation
6.Energy
7.Water
8.Natural Environment
9.Food Production/Agriculture
10.Solid Waste
11.Economics
12.Engagement and Education
13.Public Health
The first two chapters provide a solid assessment of the sustainability planning process and offer a prescriptive framework for how it can be implemented within a community. Chapter 2 also provides a robust breakdown of the process showing how to assemble potential stakeholders, how to effectively use those stakeholders, how to gain support from a broad segment of the community, and how to successfully implement a sustainability plan. The remaining chapters break down each of the specialty topics and provide case studies that demonstrate how the topics were successfully tackled.
Sustainable and Resilient Communities is a 404 page manual on how to create a sustainability plan. This is the manual that you should pass around your organization or civic group to learn how to manage the process and how to build support. I found it to be well-written and filled with a wealth of information. Coyle has done a superb job of assembling a group of experts well-versed in the subject matter presented.It doesn't take a singular or rigid approach to building a sustainability plan but instead shows how communities can create objectives that meet the needs of their citizens.
I found the book to be well illustrated with rational and relevant examples. The graphics and detailed examples from municipalities around the country are extremely useful in brainstorming approaches. The graphics are also appropriately placed to make the topics at hand more cogent. The book opens with a Foreword from Andrés Duany and continues with poignant articles by renowned experts in their respective fields.
If you're interested in sustainability plans or sustainability action plans or just creating sustainability indicators for your organization this book is an excellent place to start. It's targeted to those involved with government organization, but it's a good tool in the hands of a community activists or civic group. It would also be an excellent manual for organizations looking to approach sustainability internally.
Sustainable and Resilient Communities: A Comprehensive Action Plan for Towns, Cities, and Regions (Wiley Series in Sustainable Design) Overview
The ultimate step-by-step action plan guidebook for making communities resilient, resourceful, and healthy

Many of today's communities face an unprecedented struggle to adapt and maintain their environmental, economic, and social well-being in an era beleaguered by fiscal constraints, uncertainty about energy prices and supplies, rapid demographic shifts, and accelerated climate impacts. This step-by-step guidebook for urban planners and urban designers explains how to create and implement an actionable plan for making neighborhoods, communities, and regions more environmentally healthy, resource-conserving, and economically resilient. Sustainable and Resilient Communities delineates measures for repairing, retrofitting, and transforming our built environments and supporting systems-transportation, energy, water, natural environment, food production, solid waste, and economics-through:

Methods for assessing a community's key sustainability quotient

Deploying tools for establishing timely performance goals and metrics

Developing strategies for evaluating, selecting, and implementing 'high-leverage' interventions

Activating policies, codes, programs, plans, and practices, as well as monitoring and upgrading their performance

The book includes a range of targeted case studies, from New Orleans and South Carolina to Arizona and California, illustrating geographically diverse approaches for urban contexts large and small.
A resource for developing an ecological urbanism, Sustainable and Resilient Communities employs time-proven, broadly applicable strategies and actions that can be customized for specific environmental, energy, and economic conditions.

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