Green Urbanism: Learning from European Cities

Rating:
Summary: Baised look at sustainable urbanism
Review: As an environmental planning gradute student, I've read a lot of other books and articles by Tim Beatly, and I almost always enjoy what he has to say. His latest book was really a bit disappointing though. His basic premise in writng this book was to look at examples of sustainable urbanism from Europe (specifically Northern Europe-Denmark, Netherlands, Germany) and then see how those examples could possibly apply to American cities. From my experiences with American planning, very little in this book would be possible in America because our governance structures, local government financing, and politics are just too different. Plus his book gives the impression that Europe is somehow much more enlightened than America when it comes to planning for sustainability in urban areas, which, if you've been to anywhere in Europe outside of the countries he profiles, you'll know is not true. In all, I think he's really slanted his case studies in an effort to make a point that's become a personal cause of his without any attempt at objectivity or attention as to how realistic any of these recommendations would be in American society. The book he wrote with Christy Manning, "Ecology of Place" is a much better treatment of pretty much the same subject.

Rating:
Summary: Baised look at sustainable urbanism
Review: As an environmental planning gradute student, I've read a lot of other books and articles by Tim Beatly, and I almost always enjoy what he has to say. His latest book was really a bit disappointing though. His basic premise in writng this book was to look at examples of sustainable urbanism from Europe (specifically Northern Europe-Denmark, Netherlands, Germany) and then see how those examples could possibly apply to American cities. From my experiences with American planning, very little in this book would be possible in America because our governance structures, local government financing, and politics are just too different. Plus his book gives the impression that Europe is somehow much more enlightened than America when it comes to planning for sustainability in urban areas, which, if you've been to anywhere in Europe outside of the countries he profiles, you'll know is not true. In all, I think he's really slanted his case studies in an effort to make a point that's become a personal cause of his without any attempt at objectivity or attention as to how realistic any of these recommendations would be in American society. The book he wrote with Christy Manning, "Ecology of Place" is a much better treatment of pretty much the same subject.

Rating:
Summary: Ample introduction on how to make cities "Green"
Review: Beatley shows there is much to learn from the Europeans when it come to the ecological and environmental city planning. Although it would be hard to implement European planning practices on American soil, it brings a new, and beneficial perspective that many can use towards an incremental change.

Rating:
Summary: Ample introduction on how to make cities "Green"
Review: Beatley shows there is much to learn from the Europeans when it come to the ecological and environmental city planning. Although it would be hard to implement European planning practices on American soil, it brings a new, and beneficial perspective that many can use towards an incremental change.