Recommended Reading
Reader V.C. writes: “I really want to make a pivot into the Urban Policy/Planning/Transportation world. Are there any basic texts or publications that you think would be good to read”
There are! In particular, Christopher Leinberger’s The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream is a good, short, readable, policy-oriented brief for, you know, stuff I’m in favor of. Donald Shoup’s book The High Cost of Free Parking is also good, but it’s both extremely long and quite expensive so you might want to not read it and just listen to my blog posts on the subject. Tom Vanderbilt’s Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (And What It Says About Us?) is so readable that I actually bought my copy at an airport bookstore, and not so policy-oriented, but it contains a lot of well-explained presentations of rigorous research on this oft-counterintuitive subject. I also hear good things about Alex Marshall’s How Cities Work: Suburbs, Sprawl, and the Roads Not Taken, though I haven’t read it. Last, Doug Rae’s City: Urbanism and Its End is really just a case study of New Haven, but it makes for fascinating reading and employs theoretical concepts that have enduring relevance as to why the next era of urbanism can’t (and won’t) just be a return to how things were back in the proverbial day.
Outside of books, I recommend a great little magazine (and website) called The Next American City and also blogs! In particular, you should check out the Streetsblog Network and other avenues to find good urbanism-related sites in your local area — Greater Greater Washington for DC, and others for other cities.
44 Responses to “Recommended Reading”
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January 8th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Dude!
The Life and Death of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs needs to be at the top of that list.
January 8th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
_Crabgrass Frontier_ is unbeatable as a detailed explanation of how the suburbs developed in the 1920-1980 period. Somewhat dense, but contains all the academic references that many claim don’t exist. Don’t miss the “Dept of Housing Mortgage Quality Map” story – to this day elderly bankers and HUD officials will claim that they never existed.
_Edge Cities_ is about 3% of _Crabgrass Frontier_ is a readable popularized tone.
Not Really
January 8th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Hey, here’s another great example of Yglesias’s Dalton-educated blinders. Why have middle class people left the cities? Because they don’t have the money to send their kids to schools like Dalton, and don’t want to send them to school with ghetto blacks or Latinos.
January 8th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Second Death and Life of Great American Cities. It’s the foundational text, it’s wonderfully written, and it’s surprisingly relevant all these years later.
January 8th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
When did Fred become the worst person on this blog? That snuck up on me somehow.
January 8th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
With respect to Matt’s list, none of those are really what I would consider “insider” publications or works. I’d second Joe’s recommendation of “Life and Death…”, as well as add the following:
Transportation
Still Stuck in Traffic by Anthony Downs
Urban Transit: Operations, Planning, and Economics by Zoran Vukic
Transportation: A Geographical Analysis by William Black (highly recommended)
Policy
Hit up the American Planning Association’s website for topical policy discussion. Their bookstore also has an excellent selection of cheap-ish compilations of articles, memos, and policy decisions that are impacting planning today.
Urban Planning
Renewing Hope Within Neighborhoods of Despair by Herbert Rubin (much of what Obama learned about community organizing is expounded and communicated in this book)
Space is the Machine by Bill Hillier
Cities of Tomorrow: An Intellectual History of Urban Planning and Design in the Twentieth Century by Peter Hall
January 8th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Root Shock (Mindy Thompson Fullilove, 2005) is more of a social history of mid-century urban renewal than a policy tract, but worth seeking out. She’s a psychiatrist, so she comes at the issue from an unusual angle.
January 8th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
American Green: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn by Ted Steinberg is a short, entertaining, and mostly under-the-radar book that analyzes the strange cultural phenomenon that is the perfect suburban lawn.
January 8th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Seconding Alex Marshal’s book. I’d also recommend Rationality and Power by Bent Flyvbjerg.
January 8th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
You should absolutely have Death and Life of Great American Cities on the list.
January 8th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
As a working city planner, I heartily second the recommendation for Jane Jacobs. The book is nearly fifty years old now, but it’s still the gold standard for planning.
January 8th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Matt, I enjoy your blog but I question your expertise and base level understanding of the planning profession. How about a post on your background and work as a planner.
January 8th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
In re: Jim
Your post seems to suggest that you need to be a credentialed planner to comment credibly on planning issues. I could not disagree more.
As both a practicing planner and an academic, I enjoy Matt’s posts on the subject. He routinely demonstrates an clear understanding of contemporary issues in the discipline. Given that he’s not a professional, however, you kind of have to expect that his reading list isn’t going to be heavy on technicals or textbooks (like mine ended up being).
January 8th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
What I want to know is how does urbanism and public transit figure into Peak Oil?
January 8th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Syd: The End of Oil by Paul Roberts has some excellent chapters specifically dealing with transportation policies and practices related to Peak Oil. It’s a little heavy-handed in some parts, but it’s a good read.
January 8th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
So the world needs a good up-to-date mass-market book on urban and transportation issues. Gee, I can’t think of anyone who could write that.
January 8th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
I strongly recommend Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream, by Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk. There’s lots of well-chosen photos to illustrate what separates good, walkable communities from gasoline suburbs.
January 8th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Unless you’re intending to be a planner that likes to be surrounded only by the usual planning profession groupthink I suggest you keep a link to and read, if only occasionally, the Antiplanner site at – http://ti.org/antiplanner/.
January 8th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
An excellent site, if you think the Cato Institute is the pinnacle of public policy and just want those god damned interfering government agents with their neo-fascist agenda to get off your property.
January 8th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Of course. How silly of me. The only place you can find any diversity of thought at all on issues relating to urban planning is on a web site sponsored by racial libertarians.
Because lord knows planners don’t ever disagree with each other, and the only issue worth considering is whether there should be urban planning at all.
January 8th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Er, radicial libertarians. Not racial.
I don’t know what a racial libertarian is, and I hope to never find out.
January 8th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Jane Jacobs, of course, is a well known defender of the planning establishment.
Huh-wuzzah?
January 8th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Does anyone hear know of a book on urban planning that addresses the psychological effects of density on people and society? For example a book that addresses think like social cohesion, support for public welfare, crime, psychological affects (i.e, loneliness). Thanks
January 8th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
sp6r, I’ve never read his books, but I think Robert Putnam (”Bowling Alone”, “Better Together”) has that market cornered.
January 8th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
I’ve heard several urban planners recommend Death and Life, Robert Caro’s The Power Broker, and Suburban Nation as essential planning texts. The first two are interesting, especially for me as a New Yorker, but Suburban Nation illustrated well what’s wrong with the planning establishment and proposes several alternatives.
January 8th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
joe from Lowell Says:
January 8th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Er, radicial libertarians. Not racial.
Uhhh…come on Joe try one more time to ferret out that word you’re trying to think of. Unless of course you REALLY meant “radicial” libertarians.
I worked for a while as a municipal government planner before I decided to become an engineer (who still occasionally deals with government planners). We all meant well but more often than not our “planning” was either theme-park fantasies (town centers) or just simply delusional efforts (light rail) that invariably just meant subsidizing wealthy, connected developers, soaked adjacent property owners by inclusion in TIF zoning and just plain wasted taxpayer money.
I don’t agree with everything O’Toole or the Cato folks spout – just like I don’t disagree with everything Yglesias spouts. I just happen to think its helpful to hear opposing viewpoints. My experience is that government planning efforts generally stem from pre-ordained political decisions and aren’t always “reality-based”.
No need to be hatin’ dude.
January 8th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Death and Life of Great American Cities is of course a classic, but I would also very strongly recommend The Economy of Cities and Cities and the Wealth of Nations, both also by Jane Jacobs. CatWoN is held in some contempt by professional economists, but as we head into a very deep recession (or possibly depression) with a wounded manufacturing base and very little organic resilience to our city-regions I find it more insightful by the day.
Cranky
January 8th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
the geography of nowhere – video here.
January 8th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Also as a practicing planner, I’ll second both Alex Marshall’s book and Suburban Nation. Read the daily posts at Planetizen, APA, and the Congress for New Urbanism to get you started. Planetizen has a great list of planning schools if you’re interested in urban planning as a career.
January 8th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
If you live in L.A., San Francisco, or New York City, I’d recommend reading Curbed LA, SF, or NY, respectively, to keep up with local planning and real estate issues.
January 8th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Not sure if it’s been left in the dust, but my eye-opening book was City: Rediscovering the Center by William Whyte (of The Organization Man fame. It’s been over 20 years since I read it but I’m constantly coming across references that support what he wrote. An interesting read, though not necessarily well written.
January 9th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Re: Aaron
Then as a practicing planner you realize that what you learn in school versus what you practice in real life are two very different things. Matt, seems like he has read the books but his understanding of the implementation, political and participation side is lacking. If you want a good site in which real planners talk about their practice then check out cyburbia.com along with Planetizen. Both are great sights for the field
January 9th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Ditto what many others have already said about Planetizen. For reading suggestions, there are some lists of top books on their site. The Univ of Michigan Urban Planning program has been compiling a summer reading list for their incoming students for several years too.
January 11th, 2009 at 9:43 am
If you’re interested in the artistic, compositional qualities of urban spaces, you can’t do better than Camillo Sitte’s City Planning According to Artistic Principles. Originally written 110 years ago and still relevant today. For an exploration of the role and history of “third places” (a.k.a hangouts) The Great Good Place by Ray Oldenburg is wonderful. Jan Gehl’s Life Between Buildings is a classic, and Christopher Alexander’s A Pattern Language is still the best selling architecture/planning book ever. Southworth and Ben-Joseph’s Streets and the Shaping of Towns and Cities is academic but chock full of important history. <Great Streets by Allan Jacobs and the follow-up, The Boulevard Book, are both excellent on theory, research and as practical manuals. Bernard Rudofsky’s Streets for People is out of print but was influential in the 1960s and 70s and convinced many a young reader to become city planners.
I second the recommendations for William Whyte, Jane Jacobs, Duany/Plater-Zyberk.
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