In addition to the links below and those connected to the specific cases for this section, please see the walking tours for resources on the built environment. Particularly recommended is Camilo Jose Vergara's interactive website "Invincible Cities" that chronicles the transformation of urban built environments in ghettos over time.
On built environment and community: Here are various resources that connect built environment issues to community concerns. Do certain types of built environments foster community better than others?
Shared Space. Hans Monderman developed a philosophy of shared public space intended to better manage traffic and create more liveable cities. See also this article on shared space as "controlled chaos" in Der Spiegel International on-line.
Hollins Hills Talks.A planned suburban neighborhood in Northern VA (Metro Washington) and some of the controversies as they struggle to preserve the modern architecture of their dwellings with other community concerns.Philosopher and Hollins Hills resident Noelle McAfee weighs in.
Built Environment Blog. Thoughts on place and places; with numerous high quality links to urban issues.
The Academy for Sustainable Cities has an extensive electronic library of both policy papers and casestudies on sustainable city issues in the U.S., U.K., and Europe.
The Centre for Urban and Community Studies website has numerous multidisciplinary resources and publications on urban and community issues, with particular focus on Canada.
CEOs for Cities is a network of urban leaders working on a range of urban issues, sharing ideas and resources.
RESOURCES ON NEW URBANISM. Click on the photograph on the right to access a variety of resources on new new urbanism, a recent philosophy of urban planning and community that has had tremendous influence in the U.S. and Europe.
from urbannature.blogspot.com uploaded by ubik14
Resources on Nearby Nature: Research by Francis Kuo and others finds that urban crime decreases and the health and happiness of urban dwellers increases when there are trees and other elements of nature in the immediate environment. While some have cited this work to "prove" that cities themselves are detrimental to our health and well-being, others have urged that we prioritze plans to include nature in urban development plans.
Frances Kuo's Landscape and Human Health Laboratory site can be found here, together with some of her articles.
Are highrise dwellings hazardous to your health? See this study of highrises in Australia. Do these findings suggest that the Prince of Wales is right in his renunciation of tall buildings?
Build your own cities: Here are some tools that might be used to help visualize cities "built in speech" by various philosophers--from Plato to More as well as more contemporary thinkers.
City creator: this website has free tools to allow you to build, save, and share imaginary cities.
Google sketch-up is a very sophisticated free site that allows you to build buildings as well as cities--imaginary or real.
Google sketch-up and google earth can be combined to build cities on actual sites.
Sim City can be used to create cities too. A free version of the classic Sim City game is available free on-line; other versions are available for purchase.
Walk Score helps people find walkable places to live. Walk Score shows you a map of what's nearby and calculates a Walk Score for any address.
A new resident of Washington, DC explores the city, one metro stop at a time.
copyright 2007-2021 Sharon M. Meagher, Ph.D. Every effort is made to keep all links and resources up-to-date. Please send corrections or suggestionsto me. Thank you.
