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Resource Library

As part of our core mission of fostering the dialogue around the concept of place, the Great Places Forum has begun gathering a list of web and print resources. This is a work in progress and we encourage you to send us your suggestions for additions to the list, changes to categories, critical reviews of any sources and anything else you might want to include.


  1. Placemaking: An overview and general Information
  2. Cities and Government: policies and projects at the city, state, national, and international level
  3. Urban Infrastructure and Design: how streets, open space, renewable infrastructure, bicycle and pedestrian transportation interact to create a strong public realm.
  4. Environment, Ecology and Conservation: focus on protecting and enhancing the natural environment
    (return to top)
  5. Architecture and the Built Environment : creating and integrating sustainable built environments around great places
  6. Economic Vitality and Development: how great places stimulate growth and create value for their communities
  7. Community Integration: civic engagement, community organizing, democracy and social justice in the public realm
Place: Overview material for place making (return to top)
Web
  Books
  • Bohl, Charles C. Place Making. Washington, D.C.: Urban Land Institute. 2002.
  • Gehl, Jan and Lars GemzØe. Public Spaces, Public Life. Copenhagen: Danish Architectural Press and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, 1996.
  • Gehl, Jan. Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1987.
  • Kunstler, James Howard. The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America’s Man-Made Landscape. New York: Touchstone Books, 1993.
  • Kunstler, James Howard. Home from Nowhere: Remaking our Everyday World for the Twenty-First Century. New York: Simon and Schuster 1996.
  • Kunstler, James Howard. The City in Mind: Notes on the Urban Condition. New York: Simon and Schuster 2001
  • Kunstler, James Howard.  The Long Emergency. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006.
  • Oldenburg, Ray. The Great Good Place. New York: Paragon Books, 1991. Explanation of the importance of informal public gathering places as essential to community well-being.
  • Whyte, William H. The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. New York: Project for Public Spaces, 2001.
Articles and Research
Cities and Government: policies and projects at the city, state, national, and international level
(return to top)
Web   Books
  • Beatley, Timothy.  Green Urbanism: Learning from European Cities.  Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2000.
  • Buchwald, Emilie.  Toward the Livable City. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 2003.
  • Calthorpe, Peter and William Fulton.  The Regional City.  Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2001.
  • Duany, Andres and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck.  Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream. New York: North Point Press, 2001.
  • Duncan, James B. and Arthur C. Nelson. Growth Management Principles and Practices.
    Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
  • Halprin, Lawrence. Cities. New York: Reinhold, 1963.
  • Hylton, Thomas. Save Our Lands, Save Our Towns.  Pennsylvania: Preservation Pennsylvania, 1995.
  • Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Vintage Books, 1989 or any edition.
  • Jenks, Mike and Nicola Dempsey. Future Forms and Designs for Sustainable Cities. Burlington, MA: Architectural Press, 2005
  • Register, Richard. Ecocities: Building Cities in Balance with Nature. Albany: Berkeley Hills Books, 2002.
  • Kay, Jane Holtz.  Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took over America, and How We Can Take It Back. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997.
Articles and Research
Urban Design and Infrastructure: how streets, open space, renewable infrastructure, bicycle and pedestrian transportation interact to create a strong public realm. (return to top)
Web
  Books
  • Alexander, Christopher. A New Theory of Urban Design. New York & Oxford, Oxford University Press,1987.
  • Babbitt, Bruce. Cities in the Wilderness. Washington, D.C., 2005.
  • Barnett, Jonathan. Redesigning Cities. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.
  • Cervero, Robert. The Transit Metropolis. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1998
  • Dittmar, Hank and Gloria Ohland. The New Transit Town: Best Practices in Transit-Oriented Development. Washington, D.C.: Island Press 2004.
  • Hinshaw, Mark. True Urbanism: Living in and Near the Center. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
  • Kenworthy, Jeffrey and Peter Newman. Sustainability and Cites, Overcoming Automobile Dependence. Washington, D.C., Island Press, 1999.
  • Kostof, Spiro. The City Assembled: The Elements of Urban Form Through History. London: Thames and Hudson, 1999.
  • Kostof, Spiro. The City Shaped: Urban Patterns and Meanings Through History. London: Thames and Hudson, 1999.
  • Watson, Donald et al, Time-Saver Standards for Urban Design. New York: McGraw Hill, 2003. Reference guide on design standards and criteria.
    • Articles and Research
Environment, Ecology, and Conservation: focus on protecting and enhancing the natural environment
(return to top)
Web   Books
  • Benedict, Mark and Ed McMahon. Green Infrastructure: Linking Landscapes and Communities. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2006.
  • Crawford, J.H. Car Free Cities
  • McKibben, Bill. Hope, Human, and Wild: True Stories of Living Lightly on the Earth. Little Brown & Company, 1995.
  • Worldwatch Institute. State of the World 2007: Our Urban Future

    • Articles and Research
  • Calarusse, Crystal and Christopher Kloss. Rooftops to Rivers. Natural Resources Defense Council, June 2006.
  • Kunstler, Howard James. "Making Other Arrangements." Orion, January/February 2007. A reminder of the urgent challenges that face us as we move into an energy-scarce future.
  • Park, Alice. "51 Things We Can Do to Save the Environment." Time, April 9, 2007.
  • Register, Richard. "Green Cities and the End of the Age of Oil." Common Ground, June 2005.
  • Sheets, Hilarie M. "Where Money’s No Object, Space Is No Problem" The New York Times, January 14, 2007. article about the Olympic Sculpture Park Grand Opening
  • The Economic Benefits of Land Conservation: The Trust for Public Lands, 2007.  This report and others from Trust for Public Lands Publications
Architecture/Built Environment: creating and integrating sustainable built environments around great places. (return to top)
Web
Books
  • Cowan, Stuart and Sim Van der Ryn. Ecological Design. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1996.
  • Ching, Francis.  Architecture: Form, Space, and Order. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1996
  • Articles and Research
    Galloway,Angela. "Seattle Adds a Touch of Green."  Seattle Times, January 1, 2007. Article about Seattle’s new green factor building code
  • Ouroussoff, Nicolai. "Why are they greener than we are." New York Times Magazine, May 20, 2007.
  • Cohen, Aubrey. "More Low-Income Housing Being Built Green." Seattle P-I, May 5, 2007.
  • Leadership in Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development (Leed-ND) Core Committee. Understanding The Relationship Between Public Health and the Built Envrionment May 2006. Appraisal of the current state research regarding links between public health and neighborhood design; provides recommendations about how this knowledge can be integrated into the LEED-ND rating system to improve public health.
Economic Vitality: how great places stimulate growth and create value for their communities (return to top)
Web
  • Urban Land Institute: non-profit research and education organization which functions as a multidisciplinary real estate forum
  • Green Business Exchange: The first commercial real estate development designed for green business in the US.
  • Rocky Mountain Institute: non-profit think tank which works with individuals and institutions to help them use energy and resources efficiently while being good stewards of the environment
  • The Natural Step: helps to guide companies, communities, and governments on an ecologically, socially, and economically sustainable path
  • Web site for Gary Pivo: professor of responsible real estate development at Univ. of Arizona
  Books
  • Braungart, Michael and William McDonough. Cradle to Cradle. New York: North Point Press, 2002.
  • Hawken, Paul. Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability. New York: Harper Collins, 1993.
  • Lovins, Amory, Paul Hawkin and L. Hunter Lovins. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution. United States: Back Bay, 2000.
  • Haas, Peter M. and James Gustave Speth. Global Environmental Governance. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2006.
    • Articles and Research
    • Mckibben, Bill. "Reversal of Fortune." Mother Jones, March/April 2007. Disusses the fallacy of continued growth as an economic good.

    Community: civic engagement, community organizing, democracy and social justice in the public realm (return to top)

    Web
    • Better Together: a site dedicated to rebuilding American social capital, linked with Robert Putnam's book of the same name
    • Pomegranate Center: leading non-profit in developing neighborhood gathering places through community-generated design and development
    • Urban Sparks: an organization which helps groups start community projects, based in Seattle]
    • Civic Practices Network: a collaborative and nonpartisan project which brings together organizations and perspectives within the civic renewal movement
    • The Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement in America: Harvard University research and education organization promoting community engagement.  The website includes a thorough overview of social capital and related references.
    		   Books
    • Diers, Jim. Neighborhood Power: Building Community the Seattle Way. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2004.
    • Putnam, Robert D. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000. A groundbreaking book describing how Americans have become increasingly disconnected from community and how we may connect.
    • Feldstein, Lewis M. and Robert D. Putnam. Better Together: Restoring the American Community. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2003.
    • Matanovic, Milenko. Multiple Victories: Pomegranate Center’s Art of Creating Community-crafted Gathering Places. United States: Pomegranate Center, 2007.
    • Jay, Walljasper. The Great Neighborhood Book: A Do-It Yourself Guide to Placemaking. Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers, 2007
    Articles and Research
    • The Saguaro Seminar. "Better Together Report," The Saguaro Seminar, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Universtiy, 2000.






    		 
     
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