Strong Towns

Author : Charles L. Marohn, Jr.
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 262 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2019-10-01
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781119564812

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Strong Towns by Charles L. Marohn, Jr. Pdf

A new way forward for sustainable quality of life in cities of all sizes Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Build American Prosperity is a book of forward-thinking ideas that breaks with modern wisdom to present a new vision of urban development in the United States. Presenting the foundational ideas of the Strong Towns movement he co-founded, Charles Marohn explains why cities of all sizes continue to struggle to meet their basic needs, and reveals the new paradigm that can solve this longstanding problem. Inside, you’ll learn why inducing growth and development has been the conventional response to urban financial struggles—and why it just doesn’t work. New development and high-risk investing don’t generate enough wealth to support itself, and cities continue to struggle. Read this book to find out how cities large and small can focus on bottom-up investments to minimize risk and maximize their ability to strengthen the community financially and improve citizens’ quality of life. Develop in-depth knowledge of the underlying logic behind the “traditional” search for never-ending urban growth Learn practical solutions for ameliorating financial struggles through low-risk investment and a grassroots focus Gain insights and tools that can stop the vicious cycle of budget shortfalls and unexpected downturns Become a part of the Strong Towns revolution by shifting the focus away from top-down growth toward rebuilding American prosperity Strong Towns acknowledges that there is a problem with the American approach to growth and shows community leaders a new way forward. The Strong Towns response is a revolution in how we assemble the places we live.

Author : Charles L. Marohn, Jr.
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2021-08-26
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781119699255

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Confessions of a Recovering Engineer by Charles L. Marohn, Jr. Pdf

Discover insider secrets of how America’s transportation system is designed, funded, and built – and how to make it work for your community In Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town, renowned speaker and author of Strong Towns Charles L. Marohn Jr. delivers an accessible and engaging exploration of America’s transportation system, laying bare the reasons why it no longer works as it once did, and how to modernize transportation to better serve local communities. You’ll discover real-world examples of poor design choices and how those choices have dramatic and tragic effects on the lives of the people who use them. You’ll also find case studies and examples of design improvements that have revitalized communities and improved safety. This important book shows you: The values of the transportation professions, how they are applied in the design process, and how those priorities differ from those of the public. How the standard approach to transportation ensures the maximum amount of traffic congestion possible is created each day, and how to fight that congestion on a budget. Bottom-up techniques for spending less and getting higher returns on transportation projects, all while improving quality of life for residents. Perfect for anyone interested in why transportation systems work – and fail to work – the way they do, Confessions of a Recovering Engineer is a fascinating insider’s peek behind the scenes of America’s transportation systems.

Author : C. Christopher Smith,John Pattison
Publisher : InterVarsity Press
Page : 251 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2014-05-06
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780830841141

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Slow Church by C. Christopher Smith,John Pattison Pdf

In today's fast-food world, Christianity can seem outdated or archaic. The temptation becomes to pick up the pace and play the game. But Chris Smith and John Pattison invites us to leave franchise faith behind and enter the kingdom of God, where people know each other well and love one another as Christ loves the church.

Author : Charles L. Marohn (Jr.)
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2016
Category : BUSINESS & ECONOMICS
ISBN : 1533018553

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Thoughts on Building Strong Towns by Charles L. Marohn (Jr.) Pdf

When the first volume of this book was published in 2011, Strong Towns was a fledgling nonprofit. Since then, it has grown into a national media organization with an award-winning website, StrongTowns.org, and accompanying podcast. Over the last five years, Strong Towns' member base has grown and its message has spread across the country. Volume II is a chance to share the top essays published on our website in 2015, reworked and compiled into compelling chapters including, "Can you be an engineer and speak out for reform?" "Dealing with Congestion," and "My Car Pays Cheaper Rent Than Me." Also included are sections on Strong Towns' ongoing campaigns, #NoNewRoads and #SlowtheCars. The book features writing from Strong Towns' president, Charles Marohn, as well as several Strong Towns contributors.

Author : Jeff Speck
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Page : 321 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2012-11-13
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781429945967

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Walkable City by Jeff Speck Pdf

Jeff Speck has dedicated his career to determining what makes cities thrive. And he has boiled it down to one key factor: walkability. The very idea of a modern metropolis evokes visions of bustling sidewalks, vital mass transit, and a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly urban core. But in the typical American city, the car is still king, and downtown is a place that's easy to drive to but often not worth arriving at. Making walkability happen is relatively easy and cheap; seeing exactly what needs to be done is the trick. In this essential new book, Speck reveals the invisible workings of the city, how simple decisions have cascading effects, and how we can all make the right choices for our communities. Bursting with sharp observations and real-world examples, giving key insight into what urban planners actually do and how places can and do change, Walkable City lays out a practical, necessary, and eminently achievable vision of how to make our normal American cities great again.

Author : Jeff Speck
Publisher : Island Press
Page : 314 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2018-10-15
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 9781610918985

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Walkable City Rules by Jeff Speck Pdf

“Cities are the future of the human race, and Jeff Speck knows how to make them work.” —David Owen, staff writer at the New Yorker Nearly every US city would like to be more walkable—for reasons of health, wealth, and the environment—yet few are taking the proper steps to get there. The goals are often clear, but the path is seldom easy. Jeff Speck’s follow-up to his bestselling Walkable City is the resource that cities and citizens need to usher in an era of renewed street life. Walkable City Rules is a doer’s guide to making change in cities, and making it now. The 101 rules are practical yet engaging—worded for arguments at the planning commission, illustrated for clarity, and packed with specifications as well as data. For ease of use, the rules are grouped into 19 chapters that cover everything from selling walkability, to getting the parking right, escaping automobilism, making comfortable spaces and interesting places, and doing it now! Walkable City was written to inspire; Walkable City Rules was written to enable. It is the most comprehensive tool available for bringing the latest and most effective city-planning practices to bear in your community. The content and presentation make it a force multiplier for place-makers and change-makers everywhere.

Author : Peter Norton
Publisher : Island Press
Page : 322 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2021-10-21
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 9781642832402

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Autonorama by Peter Norton Pdf

In Autonorama: The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving, historian Peter Norton argues that driverless cars cannot be the safe, sustainable, and inclusive "mobility solutions" that tech companies and automakers are promising us. The salesmanship behind the "driverless future" is distracting us from better ways to get around that we can implement now. Unlike autonomous vehicles, these alternatives are inexpensive, safe, sustainable, and inclusive. Norton takes the reader on an engaging ride--from the GM Futurama exhibit to "smart" highways and vehicles--to show how we are once again being sold car dependency in the guise of mobility. Autonorama is hopeful, advocating for wise, proven, humane mobility that we can invest in now, without waiting for technology that is forever just out of reach.

Author : Dar Williams
Publisher : Basic Books
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2017-09-05
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780465098972

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What I Found in a Thousand Towns by Dar Williams Pdf

A beloved folk singer presents an impassioned account of the fall and rise of the small American towns she cherishes. Dubbed by the New Yorker as "one of America's very best singer-songwriters," Dar Williams has made her career not in stadiums, but touring America's small towns. She has played their venues, composed in their coffee shops, and drunk in their bars. She has seen these communities struggle, but also seen them thrive in the face of postindustrial identity crises. Here, in an account that "reads as if Pete Seeger and Jane Jacobs teamed up" (New York Times), Williams muses on why some towns flourish while others fail, examining elements from the significance of history and nature to the uniting power of public spaces and food. Drawing on her own travels and the work of urban theorists, Williams offers real solutions to rebuild declining communities. What I Found in a Thousand Towns is more than a love letter to America's small towns, it's a deeply personal and hopeful message about the potential of America's lively and resilient communities.

Author : Jane Jacobs
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 1993
Category : City planning
ISBN : OCLC:244302808

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The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs Pdf

Author : M. Nolan Gray
Publisher : Island Press
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2022-06-21
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 9781642832549

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Arbitrary Lines by M. Nolan Gray Pdf

It's time for America to move beyond zoning, argues city planner M. Nolan Gray in Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It. With lively explanations, Gray shows why zoning abolition is a necessary--if not sufficient--condition for building more affordable, vibrant, equitable, and sustainable cities. Gray lays the groundwork for this ambitious cause by clearing up common misconceptions about how American cities regulate growth and examining four contemporary critiques of zoning (its role in increasing housing costs, restricting growth in our most productive cities, institutionalizing racial and economic segregation, and mandating sprawl). He sets out some of the efforts currently underway to reform zoning and charts how land-use regulation might work in the post-zoning American city. Arbitrary Lines is an invitation to rethink the rules that will continue to shape American life--where we may live or work, who we may encounter, how we may travel. If the task seems daunting, the good news is that we have nowhere to go but up

Author : Bruce Katz,Jeremy Nowak
Publisher : Brookings Institution Press
Page : 308 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2018-01-09
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 9780815731658

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The New Localism by Bruce Katz,Jeremy Nowak Pdf

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 communities; horizontally from the public sector to networks of public, private and civic actors; and globally along circuits of capital, trade, and innovation. This new locus of power—this new localism—is emerging by necessity to solve the grand challenges characteristic of modern societies: economic competitiveness, social inclusion and opportunity; a renewed public life; the challenge of diversity; and the imperative of environmental sustainability. Where rising populism on the right and the left exploits the grievances of those left behind in the global economy, new localism has developed as a mechanism to address them head on. New localism is not a replacement for the vital roles federal governments play; it is the ideal complement to an effective federal government, and, currently, an urgently needed remedy for national dysfunction. In The New Localism, Katz and Nowak tell the stories of the cities that are on the vanguard of problem solving. Pittsburgh is catalyzing inclusive growth by inventing and deploying new industries and technologies. Indianapolis is governing its city and metropolis through a network of public, private and civic leaders. Copenhagen is using publicly owned assets like their waterfront to spur large scale redevelopment and finance infrastructure from land sales. Out of these stories emerge new norms of growth, governance, and finance and a path toward a more prosperous, sustainable, and inclusive society. Katz and Nowak imagine a world in which urban institutions finance the future through smart investments in innovation, infrastructure and children and urban intermediaries take solutions created in one city and adapt and tailor them to other cities with speed and precision. As Katz and Nowak show us in The New Localism, “Power now belongs to the problem solvers.”

Author : Victor Dover,John Massengale
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 416 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2013-12-31
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 9781118415948

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Street Design by Victor Dover,John Massengale Pdf

"The best streets in the world's villages, towns, andcities—whether modest or grand—continually remind onethat simplicity is part of the recipe for success in this art. Theadvice of Victor Dover and John Massengale, their historic examplesand their own designs, reflect that simplicity." —From the Foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales “Street Design is a lucid, practical andaltogether indispensable guide for envisioning andcreating vibrant 21st century towns and cities. It should berequired reading for every local political leader, planner,architect, real estate developer and engaged urban citizen inAmerica." —Kurt Andersen, host of Studio360 and author of TrueBelievers "We are going to start walking around the places we live again,and as that occurs and becomes normal, we will rapidly redevelop ademand for higher quality in building at the human scale." —From the Afterword by James Howard Kunstler “Your charrette traveling library must include theimportant Street Design book by Victor Dover and JohnMassengale.”—Bill Lennertz, ExecutiveDirector, National Charrette Institute “What an amazing resource! For those who wish thatmy book, Walkable City, had pictures, this is the book foryou. If either your work or your play includes the making ofplaces, you will find Street Design to be an invaluabletool.” —Jeff Speck, AICP, CNU-A, LEED-AP,Hon. ASLA Written by two accomplished architects and urban designers, thisuser-friendly street design manual shows both how to design newstreets and enhance existing ones. It offers step-by-stepinstruction and shares examples of excellent streets, examining theelements that make them successful as well as how they weredesigned and created. Topics also include strategies for shapingspace in the public right-of-way through correct building height tostreet width ratios, terminated vistas, landscaping, and streetgeometry. This book is a valuable resource for urban designers,planners, architects, and engineers. With guest essays from: Kaid Benfield, David Brussat, JavierCenicacelaya, Hank Dittmar, Andres Duany, Douglas Duany, EmilyGlavey, Chip Kaufman, Ethan Kent, Marieanne Khoury-Vogt, LéonKrier, Gianni Longo, Thomas Low, Laura Lyon, Chuck Marohn, PaulMurrain, John Norquist, Stefanos Polyzoides, Gabriele Tagliaventiand Erik Vogt.

Author : Steven Higashide
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 186 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2019-10-10
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 9781642830149

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Better Buses, Better Cities by Steven Higashide Pdf

Imagine a bus system that is fast, frequent, and reliable--what would that change about your city? Buses can and should be the cornerstone of urban transportation. They offer affordable mobility and can connect citizens with every aspect of their lives. But in the US, they have long been an afterthought in budgeting and planning. Transit expert Steven Higashide uses real-world stories of reform to show us what a successful bus system looks like. Higashide explains how to marshal the public in support of better buses and argues that better bus systems will create better cities for all citizens. With a compelling narrative and actionable steps, Better Buses, Better Cities describes how decision-makers, philanthropists, activists, and public agency leaders can work together to make the bus a win in any city.

Author : Alan Mallach
Publisher : Island Press
Page : 346 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2018-06-12
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 9781610917810

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The Divided City by Alan Mallach Pdf

In The Divided City, urban practitioner and scholar Alan Mallach presents a detailed picture of what has happened over the past 15 to 20 years in industrial cities like Pittsburgh and Baltimore, as they have undergone unprecedented, unexpected revival. He spotlights these changes while placing them in their larger economic, social and political context. Most importantly, he explores the pervasive significance of race in American cities, and looks closely at the successes and failures of city governments, nonprofit entities, and citizens as they have tried to address the challenges of change. The Divided City concludes with strategies to foster greater equality and opportunity, firmly grounding them in the cities' economic and political realities.

Author : Daniel G. Parolek
Publisher : Island Press
Page : 330 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2020-07-14
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 9781642830545

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Missing Middle Housing by Daniel G. Parolek Pdf

Today, there is a tremendous mismatch between the available housing stock in the US and the housing options that people want and need. The post-WWII, auto-centric, single-family-development model no longer meets the needs of residents. Urban areas in the US are experiencing dramatically shifting household and cultural demographics and a growing demand for walkable urban living. Missing Middle Housing, a term coined by Daniel Parolek, describes the walkable, desirable, yet attainable housing that many people across the country are struggling to find. Missing Middle Housing types—such as duplexes, fourplexes, and bungalow courts—can provide options along a spectrum of affordability. In Missing Middle Housing, Parolek, an architect and urban designer, illustrates the power of these housing types to meet today’s diverse housing needs. With the benefit of beautiful full-color graphics, Parolek goes into depth about the benefits and qualities of Missing Middle Housing. The book demonstrates why more developers should be building Missing Middle Housing and defines the barriers cities need to remove to enable it to be built. Case studies of built projects show what is possible, from the Prairie Queen Neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska to the Sonoma Wildfire Cottages, in California. A chapter from urban scholar Arthur C. Nelson uses data analysis to highlight the urgency to deliver Missing Middle Housing. Parolek proves that density is too blunt of an instrument to effectively regulate for twenty-first-century housing needs. Complete industries and systems will have to be rethought to help deliver the broad range of Missing Middle Housing needed to meet the demand, as this book shows. Whether you are a planner, architect, builder, or city leader, Missing Middle Housing will help you think differently about how to address housing needs for today’s communities.