Ecodesign for Cities and Suburbs - Softcover

Jonathan Barnett; Larry Beasley

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1610913426 ISBN 13: 9781610913423

Publisher: Island Press, 2015

Synopsis

Design professors detail a new ecodesign framework that integrates urban design with environmental conservation to make cities more desirable, low-carbon, transit-oriented communities. Jonathan Barnett and Larry Beasley seek to demonstrate that a sustainable built and natural environment can be achieved through ecodesign, which integrates the practice of planning and urban design with environmental conservation, through normal business practices and the kinds of capital programmes and regulations already in use in most communities. In six comprehensively illustrated chapters, the authors explain ecodesign concepts, including the importance of preserving and restoring natural systems while also adapting to climate change; minimizing congestion on highways and at airports by making development more compact, and by making it easier to walk, cycle, and take trains and mass transit; crafting and managing regulations to ensure better place making and fulfil consumer preferences while incentivizing preferred practices; creating an inviting and environmentally responsible public realm from parks to streets to forgotten spaces; and finally, how to implement these ecodesign concepts.

About this title

Review:

"Barnett and Beasley have authored an inspiring study of ecological principles translated into civic action. They present a jargon-free framework for making cities that redefine our understanding of how places perform in terms of social, economic, and environmental measures. Drawing on their considerable experience of city design and planning from Vancouver to Abu Dhabi, Barnett and Beasley show how thoughtful ecodesign enriches the day-to-day experience of people who live, work, and visit today's cities."--Raymond W. Gastil "Director of City Planning, Pittsburgh "

"Now impelled by the reality of climate change, we have a huge opportunity to move to a future of greater efficiency, better health, and more happiness. Barnett and Beasley provide a timely blueprint to shape the human habitat."--David Suzuki "Cofounder, David Suzuki Foundation "

"With the global 'urban century' in full swing, will cities old and new, central and suburban, become more sustainable and delightful? With Ecodesign for Cities and Suburbs, Barnett and Beasley show us that the answer is certainly yes. Their insightful approach can and must be ours."--Ethan Seltzer "Professor, Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning, Portland State University "

"This book's strength lies in its wide-ranging descriptions of leading practice successes from around the world. Examples range from inexpensive zoning ordinance changes to billion-dollar high-speed rail system projects. The book is a veritable illustrated ecodesign catalog... Barnett and Beasley are optimistic...believing that their ecodesign vision will be supported by increasing public exposure to great projects, advances in technical planning and communication tools, and growing awareness of critical consequences. For them, the outcome will make us or break us as a species; adopting ecosystem principles will help ensure our survival. [Ian] McHarg would surely agree."--Urban Land

"A clarion call for a new normal in urban, suburban, and regional design."
--Planning

"[Barnett and Beasley] prove that our built environment can be designed to adapt to a changing climate and to a rapidly expanding world population while also creating places that are more desirable for living and working."--Landscape Architects Network

"[EcoDesign for Cities and Suburbs] is both practical and fascinating."--Real Estate News Exchange

"In this highly informative call to action [the authors] present a strong argument for change in the way planners develop cities and suburbs to respect the natural environment and human needs for a social life."--Choice

"The book is a comprehensive overview of the diverse challenges our cities and suburbs face, offering practical planning and urban design solutions for transforming our urban growth model today...Overall, this is a valuable, informative book for the planning community that advances theory into practice, and that inspires new approaches to pivotal planning issues."
--Plan Canada

"a thoughtful compendium of examples from an experienced team with much to offer uban design."--Journal of Planning Education and ResearchUrban Design

About the Author:

Jonathan Barnett is an emeritus Professor of Practice in City and Regional Planning and former director of the Urban Design Program at the University of Pennsylvania. He is an architect and planner as well as an educator, and is the author of numerous books and articles on the theory and practice of city design. Along with PennDesign colleagues Gary Hack and Stefan Al, he teaches an online course, Designing Cities, available on Coursera. Larry Beasley is the retired Chief Planner for the City of Vancouver. He is now the Distinguished Practice Professor of Planning at the University of British Columbia and the founding principal of Beasley and Associates, an international planning consultancy. He is a Member of the Order of Canada, his country's highest civilian honour for lifetime achievement.

About this edition

• Publisher: Island Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1610913426
• ISBN 13: 9781610913423
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 304