Is it even possible today to write a vigorous argument in favor of the urban renewal policies of the 1950s? I doubt it. So I was glad to stumble upon a copy of Jeanne Lowe's 1967 book, Cities in a Race with Time. Lowe is a sympathetic - but not sycophantic - observer of the urban renewal era, … [Read more...]
Book Review: (de)Coding Mumbai
On a recent visit to CEPT University, I received the generous gift of a few new books from CEPT University Press. One of these, (de)Coding Mumbai by Sameep Padora and Shreyank Khemalapure, is an attractive study of how Mumbai's architecture is a product of its building and zoning codes. The … [Read more...]
Are we spiralling into a new dark age? | Analysis and review of Jacobs’ Dark Age Ahead
In Dark Age Ahead, Jacobs proclaims that 'we show signs of rushing headlong into a Dark Age.'Jane Jacobs wasn’t optimistic about the future of civilisation. ‘We show signs of rushing headlong into a Dark Age,’ she declares in Dark Age Ahead, her final book published in 2004. She evidences a … [Read more...]
Book Review: Arbitrary Lines – How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It
Arbitrary Lines is the newest must read book on zoning by land use scholar and Market Urbanism contributor, Nolan Gray. The book is split into three sections, starting with what zoning is and where it comes from followed by chapters on its varied negative effects, and ending with recommendations for … [Read more...]
Book review: Last Harvest
In the standard urban growth model, a circular city lies in a featureless agricultural plain. When the price of land at the edge of the city rises above the value of agricultural land, “land conversion” occurs. In the real world, we’re more likely to call it “development” and it is, of course, a lot … [Read more...]