By Emily Talen
(Chicago and
Washington, DC: APA Planners Press,
2009); 978-1932364637
There are
two kinds of urban design: the kind that shapes skylines and the kind that
shapes communities. For the past several decades, planners--who are trained to
think about how communities function--have ceded their role in urban design to
architects-who are trained to think about how buildings look. In Urban Design
Reclaimed, Talen challenges planners to reengage in urban design to ensure that
it supports diverse, sustainable, vibrant and equitable communities. She shows
planners how design influences their ability to reach social goals such as
diversity, environmental sensitivity, sense of place, and quality of life-and
how they can influence design. This how-to book provides some of the tools
planners need to get back in the game. Through a set of 10 exercises, it
provides an urban design vocabulary and corresponding set of applications that
are specifically targeted to non-architects.