Gender And Planning: A Reader (January 25, 2005)
by Susan S. Fainstein (Editor), Lisa J. Servon (Editor)
Increasingly, experts recognize that gender has affected urban planning and the design of the spaces where we live and work. Too often, urban and suburban spaces support stereotypically male activities and planning methodologies reflect a male-dominated society.
To document and analyze the connection between gender and planning, the editors of this volume have assembled an interdisciplinary collection of influential essays by leading scholars. Contributors point to the ubiquitous single-family home, which prevents women from sharing tasks or pooling services. Similarly, they argue that public transportation routes are usually designed for the (male) worker’s commute from home to the central city, and do not help the suburban dweller running errands. In addition to these practical considerations, many contributors offer theoretical perspectives on issues such as planning discourse and the construction of concepts of rationality.
While the essays call for an awareness of gender in matters of planning, they do not over-simplify the issue by moving toward a single feminist solution. Contributors realize that not all women gravitate toward communal opportunities, that many women now share the supposedly male commute, and that considerations of race and class need to influence planning as well. Among various recommendations, contributors urge urban planners to provide opportunities that facilitate women’s needs, such as childcare on the way to work and jobs that are decentralized so that women can be close to their children.
Bringing together the most important writings of the last twenty-five years, this book is essential reading for students and scholars of planning theory as well as anyone concerned with gender and diversity.
Contributors: Susan S. Fainstein, Ann Forsyth, Dolores Hayden, Sikivu Hutchinson, Ann R. Markusen, Doreen Massey, Linda McDowell, Martha C. Nussbaum, Joan Ockman, Alexander J. Reichl, Sandra Rosenbloom, Leonie Sandercock, Lisa Servon, Daphne Spain, Gerda R. Wekerle, Gwendolyn Wright, Iris Marion Young
Susan S. Fainstein is a professor of urban planning at Columbia University. Lisa J. Servon is an associate professor in the Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy at the New School.

Globalizing Taipei: The Political Economy Of Spatial Development (Planning History and the Environment Series) (July, 2005)
by Reginald Yin-Wang Kwok (Editor)

Partnerships In Urban Planning: A Guide For Municipalities (June 30, 2005)
by Nabeel Hamdi, Michael Majale
Nabeel Hamdi is a consultant with long experience of urban development issues and is now attached to Oxford Brookes University, UK. Michael Majale is Lecturer in Overseas Development in the Global Urban Research Unit (GURU) at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne's School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape.

Planning World Cities : Globalization, Urban Governance and Policy Dilemmas (Planning, Environment, Cities) (November 27, 2004)
by Peter Newman, Andrew Thornley
This internationally comparative text on urban planning covers both the global and regional context in which it takes place and the different combinations of issues confronting different types of cities. In contrast to existing texts the book considers both what have traditionally been regarded as "world cities" (London, New York, Tokyo) and a range of other important cities in the European, American and Asian regions. The core of the book focuses on an assessment of the strategic policy and planning options for major cities in response to globalization and other key issues and challenges of the twenty-first century.
Peter Newman is Director, Centre for Urban and Regional Governance, University of Westminster. Andy Thornley is Director of Regional and Urban Planning Studies, London School of Economics and Political Science.

The Most Segregated City In America: City Planning And Civil Rights In Birmingham, 1920-1980 (June 30, 2005)
by Charles E. Connerly
Daphne Spain, Professor and Chair of the Department of Urban and Environmental Planning at the University of Virginia
"This book is required reading for students seeking to understand the relationship between structure and agency at the local level."
"But for Birmingham," Fred Shuttleworth recalled President John F. Kennedy saying in June 1963 when he invited black leaders to meet with him, "we would not be here today." Birmingham is well known for its civil rights history, particularly for the violent white-on-black bombings that occurred there in the 1960s, resulting in the city's nickname "Bombingham." What is less well known about Birmingham's racial history, however, is the extent to which early city planning decisions influenced and prompted the city's civil rights protests. The first book-length work to analyze this connection, "The Most Segregated City in America": City Planning and Civil Rights in Birmingham, 1920-1980 uncovers the impact of Birmingham's urban planning decisions on its black communities and reveals how these decisions led directly to the civil rights movement.
Spanning over sixty years, Charles E. Connerly's study begins in the 1920s, when Birmingham used urban planning as an excuse to implement racial zoning laws, pointedly sidestepping the 1917 U.S. Supreme Court Buchanan v. Warley decision that had struck down racial zoning. The result of this obstruction was the South's longest-standing racial zoning law, which lasted from 1926 to 1951, when it was redeclared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. Despite the fact that African Americans constituted at least 38 percent of Birmingham's residents, they faced drastic limitations to their freedom to choose where to live. When in the1940s they rebelled by attempting to purchase homes in off-limit areas, their efforts were labeled as a challenge to city planning, resulting in government and court interventions that became violent. More than fifty bombings ensued between 1947 and 1966, becoming nationally publicized only in 1963, when four black girls were killed in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.
Connerly effectively uses Birmingham's history as an example to argue the importance of recognizing the link that exists between city planning and civil rights. His demonstration of how Birmingham's race-based planning legacy led to the confrontations that culminated in the city's struggle for civil rights provides a fresh lens on the history and future of urban planning, and its relation to race.

Designing Social Innovation: Planning, Building, Evaluating (August 15, 2005)
by Bob Martens (Editor)
The design and functioning of urban environments is difficult and complex, and because of the competitive nature of urban planning today, it often does not have the input required from a variety of disciplines, ranging from psychologists and sociologists to architects and planners. Researchers from these areas are, however, uniquely placed to monitor success and advise on what works. This interdisciplinary volume does exactly that, with contributions by experts from around the world. Based on the best applied research presented at the 18th meeting of the International Association of People-Environment Studies, IAPS18, held in Vienna, this volume concentrates on theories and methods in planning and monitoring, environmental, health, and social impact assessment, post-occupancy evaluations (POEs), computer modelling, and various simulation tools. It is thus a fascinating and up-to-date review for researchers, professional practitioners, and policy makers.

How to Think About Social Problems: American Pragmatism and the Idea of Planning (Contributions in Political Science) by Hilda Blanco
This thoughtful study has a two-fold purpose. The first is to examine the close relationship between the philosophy of American pragmatism and the idea of planning, and the second is to explore how to approach or think about recalcitrant social problems. Contemporary society's primary response to the issue of social problems is to turn to professional expertise. No sooner is a problem identified than a profession emerges to claim it. But intractable social problems, such as poverty or racism, show the limits of professional social inquiry. Is it the method of inquiry that is at fault, or does the failure lie in a simplistic and narrow view of reason? In exploring these questions, the author turns to the pragmatic philosophy of Charles Pierce and John Dewey to develop a coherent approach to such problems. She concludes that the lasting and meaningful changes needed to address the major problems we face today call for the cultivation of a culture of democratic planning that values inclusive communities, social and environmental justice, and public, practical knowledge.
HILDA BLANCO is Associate Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning at Hunter College of the City University of New York.