|
The Livable City: Revitalizing
Urban Communities
By
Partners for Livable Communities
Review by Robert Guskind
Senior Research Associate
The Citistates
Group
If cities are the
engines of our economy, culture and society, then
The Livable City: Revitalizing Urban Communities
is an up-to-date guide for consumers interested
in cities’ repair and maintenance. With its publication,
Washington, D.C.-based Partners for Livable Communities
has produced a vital primer on state-of-the-art
economic development and planning strategies across
America. Veteran planning observer and commentator
William Fulton and his team of writers provide a
broad overview of strategies for 21st century American
cities and regions in community design, downtown
development, neighborhood-based development, growth
management, affordable housing, effective policing,
infrastructure revitalization, broad-based community
partnerships and offer a compelling case for regionalism
as the new paradigm for decision-making.
The Livable City
is packed with readable, hands-on case studies,
accompanied by useful thumbnail sketches of programs
that work and organizations that have experience
and know-how. The economic and social challenges
facing American cities have changed dramatically
in the last 10 years, and Fulton and colleagues
examine the evolving role of cities and their economies
in the Electronic Era. They offer a compelling structural
analysis of increasingly complex, and increasingly
cooperative, relationships between public and private
leaders and organizations on the local, regional
and state levels. And they underpin their analysis
with dozens of detailed examples from across the
nation — from Newark and Charlotte to Pittsburgh
and Orlando.
The book includes
chapters on community design, affordable housing
and programs designed to undergird families, in
addition to chapters on economic development from
a regional perspective, regional partnerships and
downtowns anchored by amenities that attract a diversity
of residents and visitors. The Livable City’s
final section contains community leadership profiles
and an examination of public and private regional
financial partnerships to rebuild communities. Short
write-ups of individual organizations and projects
— including contact names and phone numbers —
are sprinkled throughout the book.
If there is a flaw
in The Livable City, it is the authors’ willingness
to invoke superlatives and declare some plans and
strategies to be resounding successes before they
have matured enough to produce real results. Even
in the cases where the tangible results are less
than one would hope for, the writers still succeed
in spreading information and details about valuable
experiments and efforts.
The Livable City
really hits the target in its treatment of regions
as the only entities that make sense in the new
economy. It also evokes the impact of regionalism
as the only organizational principle and philosophy
that can be applied if our urban areas — and the
nation as a whole — are to thrive and prosper in
coming decades.
The Livable City
should prove a valuable tool for planners, public
officials and corporate and community leaders interested
in understanding the current conditions and futures
of urban communities.
Last updated October
3, 2000
|
