Books
For those of us who could stand to learn more about zoning, Nolan Gray gives us a list of suggested reading material for the beginner on up.
Market Urbanism
The Municipalists, a new novel by Seth Fried, will definitely appeal to fiction-reading urban planners.
CityLab
A book by Loretta Lees and Martin Phillips, published in 2018, is reviewed and recommended to "graduates studying anthropology of cities, urbanism, geography, and new urban identities."
Electronic Green Journal
Blog post
In Order Without Design, Alain Bertaud takes a middle position between consistent supporters of suburbia and sprawl critics.
A new book by Samuel Stein links planning to the causes of a global finance industry that values worldwide real estate at $217 trillion, or 60 percent of the world's assets.
Next City
Feature
The following excerpt, written by Daniel Kay Hertz in the introduction to The Battle of Lincoln Park, challenges assumptions about the forces of gentrification in Chicago, with lessons for communities around the country.
Eminent urban scholar Richard Sennett populates Building and Dwelling with rich discussions of history, philosophy, and theory—as well as strolls through contemporary cities.
Los Angeles Review of Books
Jason Segedy's review of a must-read for all planners interested in the subject of "Legacy Cities."
Notes from the Underground
Introducing the Streetsblog Guide to Children's Books.
Streetsblog USA
Feature
Mining the business world for lessons about the planning profession.
Longtime planner and journalist Bill Fulton took on a side-project in the 2000s: a seat on the city council and then mayorship of the city of Ventura, California. Fulton's new book Talk City offers a real-time account of local politics.
California Planning & Development Report
A new book tells the story of Chicago's Cabrini-Green and reflects on what the lives of the people in this public housing project have to say about the lives of all Americans.
South Side Weekly
Even in liberal states like California, government-sanctioned residential segregation persisted in the 20th century. In a recent talk in L.A., Richard Rothstein, author of The Color of Law, charged planners with undoing this shameful legacy.
California Planning & Development Report
An exclusive excerpt from former Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter's new book "Mayor: The Best Job in Politics." Nutter is now Senior SP2 Fellow at the Penn Institute for Urban Research.
Penn IUR
Most cities know they need new development regulations, but it's much, much easier said than done.
At Lincoln House
Journalist Peter Markowitz has written a provocative, and profoundly disingenuous, analysis of the causes and effects of gentrification in American cities. He sows division at a time that requires collaboration, writes Josh Stephens.
California Planning & Development Report
Focusing on the often-overlooked contributions of people of color to the built environment, Dr. Craig Wilkins from the University of Michigan shares his list of recommended reading.
Doggerel
Blog post
As the library of books on urbanism expands by the year, here are some fun, engaging titles for city nerds and non-nerds alike.
A new graphic novel has magic to stir blood.
CityLab
Feature
The author of the new book "Seeing the Better City" (Island Press) explains the importance of practiced skills of observation, and how a "vocabulary of looking" can be a foundation for participation in civic discussion.
