The Sustainable Urban Design Handbook

This book is a needed addition to architects and urban designers advancing sustainable urban design in their work. And I was surprised at how beautiful it is. It is extremely comprehensive yet straightforward and well-organized, making it easy to apply the design elements in real-world projects. Although this book provides tactical tools for designers, anyone interested in sustainable urban design concepts will appreciate the clean layout and beautiful, illustrative images. This book has the potential to bring sustainable urban design to the masses.

This is a fantastic reference guide for anyone looking to dive deep into the creation of better urban spaces. It's often hard to find good examples of urban design, and this book fills that gap well. It’s great for architects, urban designers, policymakers, and anyone interested in how urban spaces can function well. Having all these insights compiled in one place is incredibly beneficial. Highly recommended for its practical applications and comprehensive coverage.

Numerous authors have attempted to comprehensive list of policies designed to make American cities and suburbs more walkable or transit-friendly. But in this book, two architects combine that idea with a broader list of urban planning policies designed to achieve "sustainability" (which, in plain English, means environmental protection). For example, the authors cover issues such as stormwater runoff, wildlife protection and light pollution. A few other things are unique about this book:*Before describing the authors' preferred policies, the book describes the status quo in a "typical approach" section, and then critiques that typical approach.*Rather than merely listing policies the authors describe the cost and difficulty of each policy. For example, at the beginning of their chapter on compact development, they say that this policy has "low cost and medium difficulty" on undeveloped land, but "high cost and high difficulty" in built-out areas.*The authors' willingness to discuss tradeoffs is impressive. For example, in a chapter on public transit, the authors point out that cities can choose between a coverage-oriented strategy that provides some service to almost all residents of a city and a ridership-oriented strategy that provides frequent service in a few heavily used areas. Similarity, curbing urban development in order to protect wildlife habitat might lead to more development of rural and exurban areas, thus increasing travel and travel-related pollution.*The authors describe the relationship between anti-walkability policies and their negative environmental impacts. For example, wide roads mean more impervious surfaces (that is, surfaces that don't soak up water) which leads to stormwater running off into rivers and ponds, increasing water pollution.

This book really looks at so many aspects of urban planning and explains them clearly. The diagrams are easy to read and provide great context for the work.

Urban planning professionals, students and faculty will find this an incredibly useful compendium of the details that underpin sustainable cities. Advocates and local officials who want to understand the more technical aspects of sustainable urban places and rural regions will also find this a great tool.