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Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
By ``sustainable communities,'' the authors mean largely self-reliant cities and towns whose use of fossil fuels has been sharply cut and whose economies are in balance with what the region can supply through natural processes. The bioregional approach, which some will deride as utopian, links the essays in this often provocative volume, the outgrowth of a ``Solar Cities Design'' workshop. Contributors include architects, community planners, ecologists and biologists. Case studies that demonstrate how human-scale communities could be built range from the undeveloped Chino Hills near Los Angeles to Philadelphia's gentrified neighborhoods. One essay faults agribusiness for its massive waste of land, energy and human resources; another calls for smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. While it has the disconnected feel of a volume of symposium proceedings, this book offers innovative solutions to the renewal of communities. Photos. (July 10) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
The authors define a sustainable community as one that ""exacts less of its inhabitants in time, wealth and maintenance, and demands less of its environment in land, water, soil and fuel."" In the book's first half, they describe how cities, suburbs and towns can be made more livable, legs energy wasteful and more self-sufficient. The second half is devoted to essays that outline ""some of the strategies that can transform our cities and towns from machines designed for consumption to sustainable habitats."" A plan to rehabilitate and humanize a decaying Philadelphia neighborhood includes, among other things, retrofitting the housing stock for passive solar cooling and heating, narrowing streets, banning through automobile traffic, and using the opened-up areas in front of the houses for recreation and vegetable growing in attached greenhouses. To make existing suburbs more livable, attractive and self-sustaining, Van der Ryn and Calthorpe call for solar technology, greater population density (which would encourage more local shops and restaurants) and narrower streets. Family cars would be parked at the end of the streets, which would then be safe for children and provide land for vegetable gardening and recreation. They describe how this can be achieved incrementally in existing suburbs and how new ones can incorporate innovative design and technology in the planning stage. The contributing experts discuss the dynamics that have shaped urban areas, and economic and cultural changes that require a redesign of existing ones and innovative design for new ones. They explain how traditional building designs plus new technologies can accomplish this. The essays evidently accompanied a 1980 design workshop in which experts were asked to submit proposals to redesign urban areas ""for sustainability."" The papers seem to have been updated to about 1983, don't reflect the recent drop in oil prices and tend to refer to the mid-80's as the future. However, the book crackles with innovations, ideas and intriguing proposals. In sum: thought-provoking, eye-opening and a welcome antidote to current indifference to energy conservation. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Choice Review
In this study, case examples of new, sustainable urban design described by the editors are followed by chapters focusing on related themes: structural shifts in the economy, transportation questions, social and demographic changes, and agricultural/ecological questions. A final chapter on the history of new towns is interesting but not well integrated with the concepts presented in the preceding chapters. The editors and individual chapter authors have created a beautifully illustrated, convincingly written discussion of an alternative future in the information age. Although presenting what many would consider utopian ideas, especially in the examples from predominantly Sun Belt environments, the theme chapters provide relatively realistic appraisals of the current state of affairs. A challenging volume for readers with a conservative or radical ecological perspective, it is not a scholarly book in the sense that it has no bibliography. This is an unfortunate failing, because the writers raise issues that readers might like to pursue further. Undergraduate readership.-J.W. Meyer, University of Connecticut
Library Journal Review
Addressing what the authors identify as a societal conflict between ``long-term social and economic health'' and ``short-term gain,'' this book offers examples, real and proposed, of sound environmental planning for communities. Three case studiesSunnyvale, California; Golden, Colorado; Philadelphiaand a group of essays on the ``Context for Sustainable Design'' are included. The vision of the contributors, many well known in the planning field, is that of a transition from fossil-fuel dependency to one of community reliance, enhancing the quality of life in the face of impersonal technology. Recommended for environmental studies and planning collections. Jim Heck el, Lewis & Clark Lib., Helena, Mont. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
