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Summary
Summary
Nineteenth-century landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted described his most famous project, the design of New York's Central Park, as "a democratic development of highest significance." Over the years, the significance of green in civic life has grown. In twenty-first-century America, not only open space but also other issues of sustainability--such as potable water and carbon footprints--have become crucial elements in the quality of life in the city and surrounding environment. Confronted by a U.S. population that is more than 70 percent urban, growing concern about global warming, rising energy prices, and unabated globalization, today's decision makers must find ways to bring urban life into balance with the Earth in order to sustain the natural, economic, and political environment of the modern city.
In Growing Greener Cities , a collection of essays on urban sustainability and environmental issues edited by Eugenie L. Birch and Susan M. Wachter, scholars and practitioners alike promote activities that recognize and conserve nature's ability to sustain urban life. These essays demonstrate how partnerships across professional organizations, businesses, advocacy groups, governments, and individuals themselves can bring green solutions to cities from London to Seattle. Beyond park and recreational spaces, initiatives that fall under the green umbrella range from public transit and infrastructure improvement to aquifer protection and urban agriculture.
Growing Greener Cities offers an overview of the urban green movement, case studies in effective policy implementation, and tools for measuring and managing success. Thoroughly illustrated with color graphs, maps, and photographs, Growing Greener Cities provides a panoramic view of urban sustainability and environmental issues for green-minded city planners, policy makers, and citizens.
Author Notes
Eugenie L. Birch is the Lawrence C. Nussdorf Professor of Urban Research and Education; Chair of the Graduate Group in City and Regional Planning, School of Design; and Co-Director, Penn Institute for Urban Research, at the University of Pennsylvania. Susan M. Wachter is the Albert Sussman Professor of Real Estate and Professor of Finance, The Wharton School; Professor of City and Regional Planning, School of Design; and Co-Director, Penn Institute for Urban Research, at the University of Pennsylvania.
Reviews 1
Choice Review
The term "sustainability" brings together a variety of advocates, researchers, policy makers, and scholars concerned with global warming, environmental degradation, and energy usage. Under its rubric can be gathered such diverse activities as protecting ecosystems, constructing energy-efficient buildings, designing more walkable cities, shifting from the automobile to mass transit, developing alternative energy sources (e.g., wind power), and better managing food production. Aiming to be comprehensive, this collection covers the variety of efforts thought to bring about "green cities." In short chapters written to be accessible to practicing professionals as well as laypeople, the contributors explore the motives behind the US sustainability movement; its legislative underpinnings (e.g., the National Environmental Protection Act of 1970); specific technologies from urban stream restoration and integrated resource plans to the sustainable food movement and ecosystem investments; and ways of assessing progress (e.g., through valuation methods and green ranking systems) toward this goal. Almost all chapters offer examples, drawing from places like New York City, Philadelphia, London, and Washington, DC. Overall, this book is an outstanding compilation and a welcome, useful introduction to the goal of making cities greener. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels. R. A. Beauregard Columbia University
Table of Contents
| Preface: Common Ground, Common Good | p. ix |
| Introduction: Urban Greening and the Green City Ideal | p. 1 |
| Part I Greening at Every Scale: Nation to Roof Tops | |
| 1 Taking the Initiative: Why Cities Are Greening Now | p. 11 |
| 2 Growing Greener Regions | p. 28 |
| 3 The Inter-Regional Dimension: The Greening of London and the Wider South East | p. 46 |
| 4 Greening Cities: A Public Realm Approach | p. 60 |
| 5 Growing Greener, New York Style | p. 84 |
| 6 Greener Homes, Greener Cities: Expanding Affordable Housing and Strengthening Cities Through Sustainable Residential Development | p. 106 |
| Part II Getting Greening Done | |
| 7 Urban Stream Restoration: Recovering Ecological Services in Degraded Watersheds | p. 127 |
| 8 The Role of Citizen Activists in Urban Infrastructure Development | p. 152 |
| 9 Blue-Green Practices: Why They Work and Why They Have Been So Difficult to Implement Through Public Policy | p. 170 |
| 10 The Roots of the Urban Greening Movement | p. 187 |
| 11 Leveraging Media for Social Change | p. 207 |
| 12 Transformation Through Greening | p. 227 |
| 13 Community Development Finance and the Green City | p. 244 |
| 14 Growing Edible Cities | p. 259 |
| Part III Measuring Urban Greening | |
| 15 Ecosystem Services and the Green City | p. 281 |
| 16 Metro Nature: Its Functions, Benefits, and Values | p. 294 |
| 17 Green Investment Strategies: How They Matter for Urban Neighborhoods | p. 316 |
| 18 Measuring the Economic Impacts of Greening: The Center for Neighborhood Technology Green Values Calculator | p. 326 |
| 19 What Makes Today's Green City? | p. 346 |
| Afterword | p. 364 |
| Notes | p. 369 |
| List of Contributors | p. 381 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 391 |
| Plates follow Chapter 6 |
