Download or read book Downtown Inc written by Bernard J. Frieden and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1991-07-01 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pioneering observers of the urban landscape Bernard Frieden and Lynne Sagalyn delve into the inner workings of the exciting new public entrepreneurship and public-private partnerships that have revitalized the downtowns of such cities as Boston, San Diego, Seattle, St. Paul, and Pasadena.
Download or read book Downtown America written by Alison Isenberg and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-05-15 with total page 462 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Downtown America was once the vibrant urban center romanticized in the Petula Clark song—a place where the lights were brighter, where people went to spend their money and forget their worries. But in the second half of the twentieth century, "downtown" became a shadow of its former self, succumbing to economic competition and commercial decline. And the death of Main Streets across the country came to be seen as sadly inexorable, like the passing of an aged loved one. Downtown America cuts beneath the archetypal story of downtown's rise and fall and offers a dynamic new story of urban development in the United States. Moving beyond conventional narratives, Alison Isenberg shows that downtown's trajectory was not dictated by inevitable free market forces or natural life-and-death cycles. Instead, it was the product of human actors—the contested creation of retailers, developers, government leaders, architects, and planners, as well as political activists, consumers, civic clubs, real estate appraisers, even postcard artists. Throughout the twentieth century, conflicts over downtown's mundane conditions—what it should look like and who should walk its streets—pointed to fundamental disagreements over American values. Isenberg reveals how the innovative efforts of these participants infused Main Street with its resonant symbolism, while still accounting for pervasive uncertainty and fears of decline. Readers of this work will find anything but a story of inevitability. Even some of the downtown's darkest moments—the Great Depression's collapse in land values, the rioting and looting of the 1960s, or abandonment and vacancy during the 1970s—illuminate how core cultural values have animated and intertwined with economic investment to reinvent the physical form and social experiences of urban commerce. Downtown America—its empty stores, revitalized marketplaces, and romanticized past—will never look quite the same again. A book that does away with our most clichéd approaches to urban studies, Downtown America will appeal to readers interested in the history of the United States and the mythology surrounding its most cherished institutions. A Choice Oustanding Academic Title. Winner of the 2005 Ellis W. Hawley Prize from the Organization of American Historians. Winner of the 2005 Lewis Mumford Prize for Best Book in American Planning History. Winner of the 2005 Historic Preservation Book Price from the University of Mary Washington Center for Historic Preservation. Named 2005 Honor Book from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities.
Download or read book Global Downtowns written by Marina Peterson and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2012-06-29 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Global Downtowns reconsiders one of the defining features of urban life—the energy and exuberance that characterize downtown areas—within a framework of contemporary globalization and change. It analyzes the iconic centers of global cities through individual case studies from Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the United States, considering issues of function, population, imagery, and growth. Contributors to the volume use ethnographic and cultural analysis to identify downtowns as products of the activities of planners, power elites, and consumers and as zones of conflict and competition. Whether claiming space on a world stage through architecture, media events, or historical tourism or facing the claims of different social groups for a place at the center, downtowns embody the heritage of the modern city and its future. Essays draw on extensive fieldwork and archival study in Beijing, Barcelona, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dar es Salaam, Dubai, Nashville, Lima, Philadelphia, Mumbai, Havana, Beirut, and Paris, among other cities. They examine the visions of planners and developers, cultural producers, governments, theoreticians, immigrants, and outcasts. Through these perspectives, the book explores questions of space and place, consumption, mediation, and images as well as the processes by which urban elites learn from each other as well as contest local hegemony. Global Downtowns raises important questions for those who work with issues of urban centrality in governance, planning, investment, preservation, and social reform. The volume insists that however important the narratives of individual spaces—theories of American downtowns, images of global souks, or diasporic formations of ethnic enclaves as interconnected nodes—they also must be situated within a larger, dynamic framework of downtowns as centers of modern urban imagination.
Download or read book Downtown Dynamics written by Toshiyuki Kaneda and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-01-05 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Downtown revitalization has become an important policy issue, especially in advanced countries. In the more than 50 years since Jane Jacobs’s critique, the mechanism of the formation and decline of downtowns has been the subject of much controversy. It has been argued that the agglomeration and attractiveness of downtown are supported by the internal diversity of downtown. However, because many controversies have remained in the discourse, few metrical analyses using operational system models based on survey data have been attempted. In this book, the authors identify the principle of the dynamics of downtown through microscopic re-interpretation of existing macroscopic spatial interaction models and meso-scale model construction from the microscopic point of view. Focusing especially on shop-around behaviors of downtown visitors as the key concept, the authors address (1) a rich trove of facts based on findings from a series of surveys conducted over more than a decade, (2) a review of existing shop-around behavior models and an exploration of a Downtown Dynamics model through gaming simulation, and (3) construction of a “boundedly-rational but intelligent” visitor agent model, development of ASSA (agent simulator of shop-around) visitors by such an intelligent agent-based approach, and implications of its simulation analyses. The book describes a research program to explore the mechanistic principle of Downtown Dynamics, especially the role of diversity that brings “co-evolution” both to visitors and to shop configuration in downtown areas. Included is a novel research program derived from complexity system science that provides approaches to researchers and graduates of spatial economy, regional sciences, geo-informatics, and urban planning studies as well as to planning officials and practitioners such as town managers and planners who are concerned with downtown revitalization.
Download or read book Recharge Your Team written by Jay W. Vogt and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2008-11-30 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As most managers know, you need a vision to motivate employees to achieve goals. But people, and companies, lose focus, and the future appears hazy. People say, We're getting stale, or, I just don't know where we're headed. Leaders know they need a vision to bring people together. And they know a good vision will renew enthusiasm and commitment. But waiting for inspiration rarely works—sometimes you need a vision now. But how? Recharge Your Team not only shows managers how to create an effective vision—it shows how to do it in as little as four hours, using a time-tested, proven approach. Traditionally, companies call in consultants to help create a vision. Experts can help—for $4,000 per day plus expenses. And then there's the time involved: Visioning efforts can take months. This book offers a less-expensive, faster method. Called Grounded Visioning, and based on a concept called appreciative inquiry, the process allows groups to come up with a revitalizing vision that everyone buys into in half a day or less. How? As this book shows, the key is to be sure everyone takes part, to base the vision on how the team acts when at its best, and to imagine a vision bold enough to inspire but practical enough to feel achievable. This book covers the six quick but essential steps that ensure such results—with small teams or large groups. And any manager, not just trainers or HR people, can lead a successful Grounded Visioning session. Grounded visioning is a breakthrough concept of breathtaking simplicity and power that any leader can put to use today. It works, because it frees employees to share their dreams, hopes, and aspirations. As they soar, a vision naturally arises that recharges the team.
Download or read book The Politics of Downtown Development written by Stephen J. McGovern and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2014-10-17 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American cities experienced an extraordinary surge in downtown development during the 1970s and 1980s. Pro-growth advocates in urban government and the business community believed that the construction of office buildings, hotels, convention centers, and sports complexes would generate jobs and tax revenue while revitalizing stagnant local economies. But neighborhood groups soon became disgruntled with the unanticipated costs and unfulfilled promises of rapid expansion, and grassroots opposition erupted in cities throughout the United States. Through an insightful comparison of effective protest in San Francisco and ineffective protest in Washington, D.C., Stephen McGovern examines how citizens -- even those lacking financial resources -- have sought to control their own urban environments. McGovern interviews nearly one hundred business activists, government officials, and business leaders, exploring the influence of political culture and individual citizens' perceptions of a particular development issue. McGovern offers a compelling explanation of why some battles against city hall succeed while so many others fail.
Download or read book Unsettling Cities written by John Allen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-08-12 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This text examines the global nature of cities - cities whose openness has shaped their dynamism and character. It explores cities as sites of movement, migration and settlement where different peoples, cultures and environments combine. Unsettling Cities explores the mix of proximity and difference that exists in the rich and diverse texture of city life. The contributors reveal the association between the changing fortunes of cities and the power and influence of global networks.
Download or read book Downtown written by Robert M. Fogelson and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2001-10-01 with total page 811 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of a Lewis Mumford Prize: “Extremely engaging reading for those interested in the history of cities and urban experience.” —Booklist Written by one of this country’s foremost urban historians, Downtown is the first history of what was once viewed as the heart of the American city. It tells the fascinating story of how downtown—and the way Americans thought about downtown—changed over time. By showing how businessmen and property owners worked to promote the well-being of downtown, even at the expense of other parts of the city, it also gives a riveting account of spatial politics in urban America. Drawing on a wide array of contemporary sources, Robert M. Fogelson brings downtown to life, first as the business district, then as the central business district, and finally as just another business district. His book vividly recreates the long-forgotten battles over subways and skyscrapers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. And it provides a fresh, often startling perspective on elevated highways, parking bans, urban redevelopment, and other controversial issues. This groundbreaking book will be a revelation to scholars, city planners, policymakers, and anyone interested in American cities and American history. “A thorough and accomplished history.” —The Washington Post Book World "Superlative . . . a vital contribution to the study of American life.” —Publishers Weekly “A superbly thorough analysis of the causes of inner-city blight, congestion, and economic decline in mid-20th century urban America.” —Library Journal Includes photographs
Download or read book The Structure and Dynamics of Cities written by Marc Barthelemy and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-11-24 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents a modern and interdisciplinary perspective on cities that combines new data with tools from statistical physics and urban economics.
Download or read book Cities and crisis written by Josef W. Konvitz and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2015-01-01 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An ambitious global study of the state of cities in the early twenty-first century, their role in society, and their contribution to the financial crisis
Download or read book Walkable Cities written by Carlos J. L. Balsas and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines how cities of various sizes on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean are making walkability improvements a part of their overall urban revitalization strategy. Walkable precincts have become an important component of urban revitalization on both sides of the Atlantic. In Walkable Cities, Carlos J. L. Balsas examines a range of city scales and geographic settings on three continents, focusing on the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal), Latin America (Brazil and Mexico), and the United States (Phoenix and New York City). He explains how this “pedestrianization of Main Street” approach to central locations (downtowns and midtowns) has contributed to strengthening various urban functions, such as urban vitality, pedestrian and bicyclist safety, tourism, and more. However, it has also put pressure on less affluent, peripheral, and fragile areas due to higher levels of consumption and waste generation. Balsas calls attention to the need to base urban revitalization interventions on more spatially and socially just interventions coupled with sustainable consumption practices that do not necessarily entail high growth levels, but instead aim to improve the quality of city life. “The notion of commercial urbanism is both novel and engaging, since much of the vibrancy of cities comes from commerce, consumption, and entertainment. The idea itself is a major contribution of the book.” — Tridib Kumar Banerjee, University of Southern California
Download or read book Nation s Cities written by and published by . This book was released on 1975 with total page 628 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Walkable City written by Jeff Speck and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2013-11-12 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents a plan for American cities that focuses on making downtowns walkable and less attractive to drivers through smart growth and sustainable design
Download or read book Sustainable Cities written by Claudio Scardovi and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-03-27 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Global cities are facing an almost unprecedented challenge of change. As they re-emerge from the Covid 19 pandemic and get ready to face climate change and other, potentially existential threats, they need to look for new ways to support wealth and wellbeing creation – leveraging Big Data and AI and suing them into their physical reality and to become greener, more inclusive and resilient, hence sustainable. This book describes how new digital technologies could be used to design digital and physical twins of cities that are able to feed into each other to optimize their working and ability to create new wealth and wellbeing. The book also describes how to increase cities’ social and economic resilience during crisis time and addressing their almost fatal weaknesses – as it became all too obvious during the recent COVID 19 crisis. Also, the book presents a framework for a critical discussion of the concept of “smart-city”, suggesting its development into a “cyber” and “meta” one – meaning, not only digital systems can allow physical ones (e.g. cities, citizens, households and companies) to become “smarter”, but also the vice versa is true, as off line data and real life behaviours can support the optimization and development of virtual brains as a sum of big data and artificial intelligence apps all sitting “over the cloud”. An analysis of the fundamental dynamics of this emerging “info-telligence” economy, and of the potential role of big digital players like Amazon, Google and Facebook is then paving the way to discuss a few strategic forays on how traditional sectors such as financial services, real estate, TMT or health could also evolve, leveraging Big Data and AI in a cyber-physical integrated setting. Finally, a number of thought provoking use cases that could be designed around individuals, and to improve the success and the resilience of households and companies living and working in urban areas are discussed, as an example of one of the most exciting future markets to come: the one of global, sustainable cities
Download or read book Urban Planning For Dummies written by Jordan Yin and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2012-02-21 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How to create the world's new urban future With the majority of the world's population shifting to urban centres, urban planning—the practice of land-use and transportation planning to help shape cities structurally, economically, and socially—has become an increasingly vital profession. In Urban Planning For Dummies, readers will get a practical overview of this fascinating field, including studying community demographics, determining the best uses for land, planning economic and transportation development, and implementing plans. Following an introductory course on urban planning, this book is key reading for any urban planning student or anyone involved in urban development. With new studies conclusively demonstrating the dramatic impact of urban design on public psychological and physical health, the impact of the urban planner on a community is immense. And with a wide range of positions for urban planners in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors—including law firms, utility companies, and real estate development firms—having a fundamental understanding of urban planning is key to anyone even considering entry into this field. This book provides a useful introduction and lays the groundwork for serious study. Helps readers understand the essentials of this complex profession Written by a certified practicing urban planner, with extensive practical and community-outreach experience For anyone interested in being in the vanguard of building, designing, and shaping tomorrow's sustainable city, Urban Planning For Dummies offers an informative, entirely accessible introduction on learning how.
Download or read book Dynamic Downtowns written by Maine. Dept. of Economic Development. Division of Research and Planning and published by . This book was released on 1965 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Fate of Cities written by Roger Biles and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first major comprehensive treatment of urban revitalization in 35 years. Examines the federal government's relationship with urban America from the Truman through the Clinton administrations. Provides a telling critique of how, in the long run, government turned a blind eye to the fate of cities.
