Michael Larice (editor) - The Urban Design Reader

The vast scope of the environmental challenges the world is currently facing is daunting. Global warming, energy depletion, waste accumulation, and a host of related problems loom large around the world. The interconnected global scale of environmental problems can make them seem intractable. How can designers and communities respond and make a difference? In the face of the current challenge, the popular 1960s adage think globally, act locally seems all the more apt.

Many European cities, mindful that the ecological footprint of western societies has been unsustainably large for too long and spurred by governmental incentives, have recently embraced urban design strategies aimed at reducing carbon emissions. New zero-carbon neighborhoods are being built and low-carbon transportation systems are being inserted into old and new areas of cities alike. Sprawl is being limited, regional green networks are being preserved and enhanced, and nature is being brought into the city. There are lessons to be learned from the efforts of European cities, both in terms of understanding what policies have enabled and encouraged the development of low-carbon-producing urban areas, and gaining knowledge of the practical on-the-ground design approaches that are being used and which seem to be successful.

In his essay Planning for Sustainability in European Cities: A Review of Practice in Leading Cities from The Sustainable Urban Development Reader , Timothy Beatley surveys and brings together the key sustainability ideas, policies, and urban design strategies found in 30 European cities that he has studied. The practices reviewed in this selection are discussed in greater detail in Beatley, Green Urbanism: Learning from European Cities (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2000). The overall goal common to these cities is the maintenance of the compact city forms that they were originally built with, which means urban limits, high density, infill development, and strategically planned areas, all of which is undertaken with an eye to maintaining urban livability and quality design. Another goal is urban greening, which means the creation of ecological corridors and the enhancement of urban forests. A major design strategy involves the prioritization of low-carbon forms of transportation, including public transit, walking, and biking. As well, many cities are experimenting with creating local renewable energy sources, focusing particularly on solar panel and wind farm installations. Most ambitiously, some cities are putting in place neighborhood-scale designs directed at creating closed-loop energy systems, where human and industrial wastes are recycled to provide the energy source for district heating systems.

Timothy Beatley is the Theresa Heinz Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. He does research in the areas of environmental planning and policy, with special emphasis on coastal and natural hazards planning, environmental values and ethics, and biodiversity conservation. Professor Beatleys other books include Native to Nowhere: Sustaining Home and Community in a Global Age (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2005); Natural Hazard Mitigation with David Godschalk and others (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1998); The Ecology of Place with Kristy Manning (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1997); After the Hurricane: Linking Recovery To Sustainable Development in the Caribbean with Philip Berke (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997); An Introduction to Coastal Zone Management , 2nd edn. (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1994); Ethical Land Use: Principles of Policy and Planning (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994); Habitat Conservation Planning: Endangered Species and Urban Growth (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994).

Key classic and contemporary writings on sustainable urban development and green urbanism are contained in The Sustainable Urban Development Reader , 2nd edn. (London: Routledge, 2008), which Beatley co-edited with Stephen Wheeler. Stephen Wheelers Planning for Sustainability: Creating Livable, Equitable and Ecological Communities (London: Routledge, 2004) presents a systematic analysis of how more sustainable cities can be achieved and illustrates how sustainability initiatives at different scales of planning international, national, regional, municipal, neighborhood, site, and building are interrelated.

Important writings on sustainable urban development include Sustainable and Resilient Communities: A Comprehensive Action Plan for Towns, Cities, and Regions (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2011) edited by Stephen Coyle, Peter Newman, and Isabella Jennings; Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems: Principles and Practices (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2008); Douglas Farr, Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design With Nature (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2007); Richard Register, EcoCities: Rebuilding Cities in Balance with Nature Revised edition (Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 2006); Mike Jencks and Nicola Dempsey, Future Forms and Design for Sustainable Cities (Oxford: Architectural Press, 2005).

Jeffrey Tumlins Sustainable Transportation Planning: Tools for Creating Vibrant, Healthy, and Resilient Communities (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2011) offers a comprehensive look at fresh ways of thinking about transportation systems and real-world strategies for creating more sustainable transportation options in cities.

For more on green politics in Europe see Michael Dobson, Green Political Thoughts , 4th edn. (London: Routledge, 2007); Andrew Dobson and Robyn Eckersley (eds) Political Theory and the Ecological Challenge (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006); John S. Dryzek (ed.), Green States and Social Movements: Environmentalism in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Norway (London: Oxford University Press, 2002); and Michael ONeill, Green Parties and Political Change in Contemporary Europe: New Politics, Old Predicaments (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1997). For green politics in America, see John Rensenbrink, Against All Odds: The Green Transformation of American Politics (Raymond: Leopold Press, 1999).

A number of websites devoted to issues of sustainable cities maintain repositories of resources on sustainable urban design practices around the world. Notable sites include: http://www.sustainablecities.net, http://www.sustainablecitiesinstitute.org, and http://www.sustainable-cities.eu.