NEW URBANISM & BEYOND BOOK REVIEWS
This book is an outstanding compendium of "some of the brightest urban minds of today" - Professor Emeritus Manuel Castells (University of California, Berkeley)
"This book, which brings together an impressive array of 67 leading thinkers in urbanism today, is likely to become a classic resource for students, instructors, professionals, policymakers, activists, and anyone who is fascinated with cities and their future. It is also a rewarding treasury of ideas, drawings, photographs and case study information, offering a delightful browse or more careful study." - Publisher (Rizzoli, New York)
"Haas has assembled one of the most stimulating books yet published about New Urbanism...and has gathered writings from what amounts to a who's-who of architecture, planning, urban design and related fields...This is a book that every new Urbanist should have." - Philip Langdon (New Urban News)
The book...presents a provocative range of thought from many of the most legendary thinkers of the last half-century on cities, architecture and urbanism, including Christopher Alexander, Bill Hillier, Peter Hall, Leon Krier, Jan Gehl and many others. Its specific focus is the movement of New Urbanism, and key founders present their case here (Peter Calthorpe, Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk et al). Critics also have their say (Ayssar Arida, Ed Robbins, Lars Lerup et al) with additional thoughtful analysis from many in between (Emily Talen, Christopher Alexander, Saskia Sassen, William Mitchell et al)." - Michael W Mehaffy (Tectics)
"Inspired by a Swedish conference on urbanism, this coffee table style tome could be easily mistaken for sociology textbook. It is unabashedly academic, both in its format and content, integrating topics from sociology, economics, ecology, architecture, engineering, global politics and beyond. Despite its looming size and academic lexicon, the book is above all fascinating, accessible and incredibly relevant...maybe it's about time for city planners to connect social equity, sustainability, and human connection into the places we live." - Jackie Chiquoine (Tokion)
"With 69 contributors and 61 essays, the book is ambitious...it's worth a look. Many of its contributions make valuable points about new urbanism and potential new versions of it". - Sylvia Lewis (Planning, American Planning Association APA)
"This is not an anticipatory work, a book of dreams, or a nostrum for the future design of cities and our communities; it is simply a solidly grounded collection of ideas and thoughts addressing our urban condition (and beyond) written by an exceptional group of individuals never before assembled in one place." - Assistant Professor Tigran Haas (KTH, Book Editor)
"Broken into eleven themed sections (theories, sprawl, sustainability, digital spaces, social capital, etc.), it's more accurate to call the collection a `primer on urban design' -- as the book does call itself....Ultimately the book is as valuable a collection of voices on urbanism as the recent Endless City. While each has different intentions, the results -- and parties involved -- have substantial overlap, something indicative of the trend towards thinking on the urban and regional scale." - John Hill (A Weekly Dose of Architecture)