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Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 30000010262121 | HT167 C32 2011 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
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Summary
Summary
"Cities are green" is becoming a common refrain. But Calthorpe argues that a more comprehensive understanding of urbanism at the regional scale provides a better platform to address climate change. In this groundbreaking new work, he shows how such regionally scaled urbanism can be combined with green technology to achieve not only needed reductions in carbon emissions but other critical economies and lifestyle benefits. Rather than just providing another checklist of new energy sources or one dimensional land use alternatives, he combines them into comprehensive national growth scenarios for 2050 and documents their potential impacts. In so doing he powerfully demonstrates that it will take an integrated approach of land use transformation, policy changes, and innovative technology to transition to a low carbon economy.
To accomplish this Calthorpe synthesizes thirty years of experience, starting with his ground breaking work in sustainable community design in the 1980s following through to his current leadership in transit-oriented design, regional planning, and land use policy. Peter Calthorpe shows us what is possible using real world examples of innovative design strategies and forward-thinking policies that are already changing the way we live.
This provocative and engaging work emerges from Calthorpe's belief that, just as the last fifty years produced massive changes in our culture, economy and environment, the next fifty will generate changes of an even more profound nature. The book, enhanced by its superb four-color graphics, is a call to action and a road map for moving forward.
Author Notes
Peter Calthorpe is a leading innovator in sustainable design, planning, and development. He is an architect, urban designer and a founding member of the Congress for New Urbanism, formed in 1992 to promote sustainable urban design practices. He is the author of The Regional City: Planning for the End of Sprawl (Island Press, 2001). He won the 2006 Urban Land Institute's J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development for his work pioneering walkable communities and regional design.
Reviews 1
Choice Review
This book argues that changes in urban settlement patterns can help the US control the carbon emissions that contribute to climate change and, conversely, that the kinds of changes necessary to do so will facilitate richer, more humane lifestyles. The argument is based on common sense and holistic thinking; it is clear and convincing. Calthorpe's vision of urbanism is an extension of that articulated in his earlier The Next American Metropolis (1993), a seminal text of new urbanism. Here he broadens his descriptions to cover both regional and local concerns, along with issues of both policy and form. He describes the ways in which his view of urbanism can be modified in response to changing American values and emerging ecological imperatives. As with his earlier book, Calthorpe cites relevant examples from his experiences as an active urban designer to support his ideas. Although the book would have profited from more thorough referencing and better integration of graphics and text, it is an important work with a critical, timely message. It does not provide easy answers, but it describes viable possibilities and accordingly deserves a wide audience. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers. D. Sachs Kansas State University
Table of Contents
| Introduction |
| Chapter 1 Urbanism and Climate Change |
| Chapter 2 The Fifty Year Experiment |
| Chapter 3 Toward a Green Urban Future |
| Chapter 4 Design for Urbanism |
| Chapter 5 The Urban Footprint |
| Chapter 6 The Urban Network |
| Chapter 7 The California Experiment |
| Chapter 8 Four American Futures |
| Chapter 9 A Sustainable Future |
