THE TRANSIT METROPOLIS by Robert Cervero
"A gold mine for those concerned with urban design, sustainable transportation, and the role that transit can play in making our cities livable. An insightful analysis, documented by well-chosen case studies of international transit success stories - a must read for anyone who wishes to understand what it takes to make transit work in the modern auto-dominated era. A fascinating and most readable book."
Noted transportation expert Robert Cervero provides an on-the-ground look at more than a dozen mass transit success stories, introducing the concept of the "transit metropolis" - a region where a workable fit exists between transit services and urban form. The author has spent more than three years studying cities around the world, and he makes a compelling case that metropolitan areas of any size and with any growth pattern - from highly compact to widely dispersed - can develop successful mass transit systems. Purchase book
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NEW DEPARTURES by Anthony Perl
Rethinking Rail Passenger Policy in the Twenty-First Century. "New Departures is not only the most comprehensive look at rail passenger service in North America, it is the most timely. With air travel suddenly becoming a mature industry after September 11th, the nation is realizing that it is missing a vital balance in passenger transportation, a balance that could be provided by high speed passenger rail service."
"This timely book puts railroading on a new footing, making it a solvable problem. New Departures lays out the many ways a variety of high-speed rail systems can rapidly be assembled to contribute to our safety and security, while restoring enjoyment and ease to American travel." Purchase book
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TRANSIT VILLAGES IN THE 21ST CENTURY by Bernick & Cervero
"This is a guide to the new wave of 'transit villages', communities that hug metropolitan rail systems in order to reduce 'gridlock' and expedite growth. It shows how this new approach to urban development encourages community development, and includes case studies of successful transit villages. Now you can see first-hand how such goundbreaking transit villages as Mission Valley station in San Diego and Ballston Station in northern Virginia are setting a new standard in urban development.
This book shows how to design efficient, environmentally friendly transit communities that hug metropolitan rail systems to reduce gridlock and spur growth. It shows you how to handle everything from transportation and real estate development to zoning, site planning and master planning... develop pedestrian access, mixed-use environments and diversified housing... create a 'sense of place' in these unique communities... and much more. You also get detailed case studies showing how you can apply recent transit village successes in the U.S., Sweden, Canada and other countries." Purchase book
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THE NEW TRANSIT TOWN by Hank Ditmar & Gloria Ohland
Best Practices in Transit-Oriented Development. "Transit-oriented development (TOD) seeks to maximize access to mass transit and nonmotorized transportation with centrally located rail or bus stations surrounded by relatively high-density commercial and residential development. New Urbanists and smart growth proponents have embraced the concept and interest in TOD is growing, both in the United States and around the world.
The New Transit Town brings together leading experts in planning, transportation, and sustainable design -- including Scott Bernstein, Peter Calthorpe, Jim Daisa, Sharon Feigon, Ellen Greenberg, David Hoyt, Dennis Leach, and Shelley Poticha -- to examine the first generation of TOD projects and derive lessons for the next generation. It offers topic chapters that provide detailed discussion of key issues along with case studies that present an in-depth look at specific projects." Purchase book
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FUTURE TRANSPORT IN CITIES by Brian Richards
"Cities around the world are being wrecked by the ever-increasing burden of traffic. A significant part of the problem is the enduring popularity of the private car - still an attractive and convenient option to many, who turn a blind eye to the environmental and public health impact. This book shows that attractive and practical alternatives to a car dependent society are possible. With the growth of car ownership and use reaching crisis proportions in our cities it is imperative to find and implement alternatives if cities are to survive and prosper. The book reveals how transport technology is developing, in particular, showing how it can be integrated into the urban environment.
The book opens with a look at the 'best' of current transportation systems and goes on to explore such advanced technologies as automated highways, covered cities, monorails, new elevated systems, smart cars, guided buses, as well as intelligent highways, and car-free housing. The importance, too, of simple measures such as walking and cycling are covered as being an essential part of any future city as well as that of an 'integrated transport' if people are to be encouraged to get out of their cars." Purchase book
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CAR FREE CITIES by J.H. Crawford
In Carfree Cities, J.H. Crawford argues persuasively that modern personal car usage is a technology that has become deleterious to modern city life. The author has done us all a great service by crafting a wonderfully readable book that beautifully blends vision and practicality. The reference model for Carfree Cities proposed in this meticulously considered work could quite possibly be the blueprint for reviving not only the art of building but also the art of living itself.
More than half of the world's petrol sources have already been exhausted, and now, with rapidly industrializing countries with huge populations like China and India, demand and competition for petrol will skyrocket and accordingly prices will too. This is one of the three bases that Crawford sets for the radical revisioning of global city planning to abandon autocentric tendencies, and perhaps the most persuasive. The two others, that auto-use is destroying the Earth and that car-free developments, like Venice and very old sectors of European cities, are intrinsically more beautiful and livable areas, are both valid and convincing. But recent economic realities, as is currently being evidenced in global oil prices, perhaps serve to allow the reader to actually consider the feasibility and necessity of abandonining continued suburbanization, rather than just relegating the thought as a utopian but impractical solution. Purchase book
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SUSTAINABILITY AND CITIES by Newman & Kenworthy
Sustainability and Cities examines the urban aspect of sustainability issues, arguing that cities are a necessary focus for that global agenda. The authors make the case that the essential character of a city's land use results from how it manages its transportation, and that only by reducing our automobile dependence will we be able to successfully accommodate all elements of the sustainability agenda. The authors consider the changing urban economy in the information age, and describe the extent of automobile dependence worldwide. They provide an updated survey of global cities that examines a range of sustainability factors and indicators, and, using a series of case studies, demonstrate how cities around the world are overcoming the problem of automobile dependence.
They also examine the connections among transportation and other issues-including water use and cycling, waste management, greening the urban landscape, and more-and explain how all elements of sustainability can be managed simultaneously. The authors end with a consideration of how professional planners can promote the sustainability agenda, and the ethical base needed to ensure that this critical set of issues is taken seriously in the world's cities. Purchase book
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REDESIGNING CITIES by Jonathan Barnett
Principles, Practice, Implementation. An excellent new book from a leading urban design thinker. "Jonathan Barnett points the way for us to make our urban areas more livable, attractive, and economically competitive. He captures the lessons we've learned about livable communities, describes the tools and techniques that work, and points us toward the creation of tomorrow's success stories. Redesigning Cities is a great read for transportation and urban planners, and anyone else interested in understanding the relationship between urban design, land use, and transportation. Barnett does an excellent job of explaining lessons learned - what to avoid from the past, and what we need to do to get it right in the future. This highlights the importance of urban design to the shaping of cities, and provides practical solutions to the problems of poor design, poverty, and sprawl." Purchase book
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THE REGIONAL CITY By Peter Calthorpe and William Fulton
Planning for the End of Sprawl. "This is an important book that arrives at a powerful conclusion: older neighborhoods and newer suburbs all share a common, regional destiny. The challenges of affordable housing, concentrated poverty, aging inner-ring suburbs and underachieving schools must be addressed regionally if our cities are to thrive in the new global economy. The best instructional guide yet from moving from sprawl to livable communities... a compelling case for why every large U.S. metropolitan area should adopt some form of regional governance concerning transportation, affordable housing, tax-base sharing, and more equal educational opportunities.
Essential reading for environmentalists, it provides the foundation for a powerful movement to repair and revitalize our decaying communities and protect our threatened ecosystems. With wisdom, insight and great clarity, the authors decode the rhetoric of regionalism and present a persuasive case for how a productive regional framework of policy, design and program can work inclusively from the bottom up. The re-imagination of our collective habitats and marks the end of over a century of inhuman planning. This is a grounded, fundamental book steeped in experience and wisdom, reflecting equally the ethos of architecture, social justice, and environmental activism." Purchase book
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THE NEXT AMERICAN METROPOLIS by Peter Calthorpe
Ecology, Community, and the American Dream. "The environmental, economic, and social limits to growth in our metropolitan regions are reaching crisis proportions. This book advocates a fundamental change in our patterns of building. In addition to defining a new direction in planning, this is a how-to book - providing the means as well as the principles for change. Author Peter Calthorpe's guidelines are neither an architectural manifesto nor a utopian proposal; they describe alternatives now shaping the debate over growth in communities across the United States. Comprehensive in scope, they simultaneously address the housing, traffic, environmental, and social problems inherent in sprawl. This is a book for architects, engaged citizens, urban planners, environmentalists, and housing activist - for people seeking to understand their present conditions and develop a vision of a sustainable future." Purchase book
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