An ideal introduction to community planning for students, planners, local officials, community leaders, and citizens. Two experienced educators offer a general introduction to planning, including the elements of the comprehensive plan, and the tools of plan implementation. Each chapter includes a continuing case study of Rivertown, a fictitious community used for planning exercises. Practical examples and case studies from across the United States supplement the text.
Properly planned and visualized, large-scale developments can be successfully constructed, whether as master planned communities, planned unit developments, or new towns. Fundamentals of Land Development provides an in-depth approach to the design, planning, and development of large land areas into comprehensively designed communities. This book provides in-depth discussions of the full range of development tasks involved in any large development project, from site and land use selection, market analysis, preparing the land use plan and impact statements, to getting approval from the municipality and community, permitting and approval, scheduling and cost management, and the basics of engineering systems and design. Developers and other stake-holders will find guidance on such issues as: • How real-world development is driven by profits, and how team members can maximize profits while developing creatively and responsibly • Site selection and acquisition • Entering the growing business of retirement (active adult) community development Illustrated with real-world case studies drawn from the authors own experience, Fundamentals of Land Development is a practical manual for developers looking to improve the profitability of their projects and gain a better understanding of what all team members undertake in a project of this size and complexity.
New towns—large, comprehensively planned developments on newly urbanized land—boast a mix of spaces that, in their ideal form, provide opportunities for all of the activities of daily life. From garden cities to science cities, new capitals to large military facilities, hundreds were built in the twentieth century and their approaches to planning and development were influential far beyond the new towns themselves. Although new towns are notoriously difficult to execute and their popularity has waxed and waned, major new town initiatives are increasing around the globe, notably in East Asia, South Asia, and Africa. New Towns for the Twenty-First Century considers the ideals behind new-town development, the practice of building them, and their outcomes. A roster of international and interdisciplinary contributors examines their design, planning, finances, management, governance, quality of life, and sustainability. Case studies provide histories of new towns in the United States, Asia, Africa, and Europe and impart lessons learned from practitioners. The volume identifies opportunities afforded by new towns for confronting future challenges related to climate change, urban population growth, affordable housing, economic development, and quality of life. Featuring inventories of classic new towns, twentieth-century new towns with populations over 30,000, and twenty-first-century new towns, the volume is a valuable resource for governments, policy makers, and real estate developers as well as planners, designers, and educators. Contributors: Sandy Apgar, Sai Balakrishnan, JaapJan Berg, Paul Buckhurst, Felipe Correa, Carl Duke, Reid Ewing, Ann Forsyth, Robert Freestone, Shikyo Fu, Pascaline Gaborit, Elie Gamburg, Alexander Garvin, David R. Godschalk, Tony Green, ChengHe Guan, Rachel Keeton, Steven Kellenberg, Kyung-Min Kim, Gene Kohn, Todd Mansfield, Robert W. Marans, Robert Nelson, Pike Oliver, Richard Peiser, Michelle Provoost, Peter G. Rowe, Jongpil Ryu, Andrew Stokols, Adam Tanaka, Jamie von Klemperer, Fulong Wu, Ying Xu, Anthony Gar-On Yeh, Chaobin Zhou.
For practitioners and students in architecture, landscape architecture, planning, and civil engineering, A Guide to Site Planning and Landscape Construction offers an indispensable and authoritative reference.
Housing is an essential, but complex, product, so complex that professionals involved in its production, namely, architects, real estate developers and urban planners, have difficulty agreeing on “good” housing outcomes. Less-than-optimal solutions that have resulted from a too narrow focus on one discipline over others are familiar: high design that is costly to build that makes little contribution to the public realm, highly profitable but seemingly identical “cookie-cutter” dwellings with no sense of place and well-planned neighborhoods full of generically designed, unmarketable product types. Differing roles, languages and criteria for success shape these perspectives, which, in turn, influence attitudes about housing regulation. Real estate developers, for example, prefer projects that can be built “as-of-right” or “by-right,” meaning that they can be approved quickly because they meet all current planning, zoning and building code requirements. Design-focused projects, heretofore “by-design,” by contrast, often require time to challenge existing regulatory codes, pursuing discretionary modifications meant to maximize design innovation and development potential. Meanwhile, urban planners work to establish and mediate the threshold between by-right and by-design processes by setting housing standards and determining appropriate housing policy. But just what is the right line between “by-right” and “by-design”? By-Right, By-Design provides a historical perspective, conceptual frameworks and practical strategies that cross and connect the diverse professions involved in housing production. The heart of the book is a set of six cross-disciplinary comparative case studies, each examining a significant Los Angeles housing design precedent approved by-variance and its associated development type approved as of right. Each comparison tells a different story about the often-hidden relationships among the three primary disciplines shaping the built environment, some of which uphold, and others of which transgress, conventional disciplinary stereotypes.
'Altering Houses and Small-scale Residential Development' is a practical guide for home owners and those undertaking residential building projects. It is also useful for students and emerging professionals concerned with the built environment, especially small-scale development procedures. Undertaking house alterations can be daunting, not least because considerations of cost, design and method can simultaneously demand urgent and careful attention. In addition, there are regulations and the law to be satisfied, contracts to be entered into and a host of potential problems concerned with the form and condition of the building itself. It is a rare building which is not defective in some way, but putting things right can be very satisfying. The Bridgers' book assumes that many home owners now wish to understand more clearly what goes on when they commission contractors and consultants to convert and adapt their homes. Or course, there are also people who intend to manage a project themselves, while others may undertake work on a DIY basis, and the secret then is getting the right kind of help. This book will be invaluable in either situation because it explains how to perform certain functions yourself, yet clarifies the roles and responsibilities of the professionals who may be needed to help with the processes of buying, altering and selling a house. The economic factors in development are not overlooked since, for people who wish to develop in order to sell or let property, market conditions will be paramount, as will the forecasting and control of costs. This book provides practical guidance on these matters; it avoids theory, but does suggest further reading. It is also highly illustrated with over 100 illustrations clarifying parts of the text. The main theme of this book is altering houses but, in practice, the differences between some alterations schemes and building a new house can be relatively small. As a result, much of the material will be useful for those who wish to acquire a plot of land and undertake a modest residential development. Altering or building houses and selling them can be a complex business, covering a wide range of interrelated factors. This book will make these processes easier.
This thesis explores the use of travel plans for new residential developments as a tool for managing car use and encouraging the use of more sustainable forms of transport. It provides coverage of the scale of travel planning practice for new developments, industry perspectives on their development and implementation, and an assessment of their quality and effectiveness. It combines implementation theory and planning enforcement theory to identify opportunities to enhance the effectiveness of travel plans for new residential developments and to guide future travel planning practice. This thesis is useful and will appeal to both researchers and practitioners involved in transport planning for new residential developments.
