Civitas By Design

"The best study so far about the virtual collapse in the late twentieth century of South Jersey's largest city."--New York Times.

The last decade has seen the rise of urban design which has taken a central position in the new agendas for urban regeneration and renaissance. Urban design has moved from marginality to mainstream. The principles espoused by urban designers over the past thirty years are now accepted as key to a better urban environment and as we move towards greater sustainability, different ideas are emerging that are challenging some of the accepted urban design norms; urban design is at a watershed. Urban Design Futures presents essays from an international cast of authors to review progress and explore emerging ideas: should urban design reflect the future rather than recreate the past? What are the new driving forces that will shape urban living and hence urban design in the future? This book explores new concepts and points the way towards a series of urban design paradigms for the twenty-first century.

The Designer's Workspace presents an extensive resource of distinguished firms' responses to the design of their own offices. Featuring everything from technical detail to interior design, it illustrates what these designers see as the major considerations for modern workplace design. This book reveals design solutions, details, and concepts that have been explored and used by design firms from around the world. From the first impressions at the Reception area and Lobby, to the appeal and diverse uses of the meeting areas, to the functionality and sleekness of the Design Studio itself, it illustrates how the designer's office can be quite unique in style, function, and character whilst also varying from culture to culture. No two designers will produce the same atmosphere. With this objective, The Designer's Workspace showcases an array of designs from the traditional to the contemporary, from the historic renovation to the new office tower and serves as a portfolio of the varied responses and solutions found to the challenge of designing the modern office.

A textbook that introduces integrated, sustainable design of urban infrastructures, drawing on civil engineering, environmental engineering, urban planning, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and computer science. This textbook introduces urban infrastructure from an engineering perspective, with an emphasis on sustainability. Bringing together both fundamental principles and practical knowledge from civil engineering, environmental engineering, urban planning, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and computer science, the book transcends disciplinary boundaries by viewing urban infrastructures as integrated networks. The text devotes a chapter to each of five engineering systems—electricity, water, transportation, buildings, and solid waste—covering such topics as fundamentals, demand, management, technology, and analytical models. Other chapters present a formal definition of sustainability; discuss population forecasting techniques; offer a history of urban planning, from the Neolithic era to Kevin Lynch and Jane Jacobs; define and discuss urban metabolism and infrastructure integration, reviewing system interdependencies; and describe approaches to urban design that draw on complexity theory, algorithmic models, and machine learning. Throughout, a hypothetical city state, Civitas, is used to explain and illustrate the concepts covered. Each chapter includes working examples and problem sets. An appendix offers tables, diagrams, and conversion factors. The book can be used in advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in civil engineering and as a reference for practitioners. It can also be helpful in preparation for the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) and Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) exams.

This discussion of what makes public places appealing and useful will inspire those involved with public planning and design.

For more than a century, the term "Main Street" has conjured up nostalgic images of American small-town life. Representations exist all around us, from fiction and film to the architecture of shopping malls and Disneyland. All the while, the nation has become increasingly diverse, exposing tensions within this ideal. In The Death and Life of Main Street, Miles Orvell wrestles with the mythic allure of the small town in all its forms, illustrating how Americans continue to reinscribe these images on real places in order to forge consensus about inclusion and civic identity, especially in times of crisis. Orvell underscores the fact that Main Street was never what it seemed; it has always been much more complex than it appears, as he shows in his discussions of figures like Sinclair Lewis, Willa Cather, Frank Capra, Thornton Wilder, Margaret Bourke-White, and Walker Evans. He argues that translating the overly tidy cultural metaphor into real spaces--as has been done in recent decades, especially in the new urbanist planned communities of Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and Andres Duany--actually diminishes the communitarian ideals at the center of this nostalgic construct. Orvell investigates the way these tensions play out in a variety of cultural realms and explores the rise of literary and artistic traditions that deliberately challenge the tropes and assumptions of small-town ideology and life.

Based on the authors' rich experiences, this book demonstrates that evaluation of measures aimed at more sustainable mobility is a useful task which can be learned by everybody. By integrating theory and practice it offers richly-illustrated case examples and cartoons to provide hands on advice. It offers a framework for thinking about evaluation of mobility-related measures and outlines the necessary steps for good evaluation practice. Key Features •Richly illustrated by comics and on real measure examples. •A step-by-step hands on guide for practitioners.

Until the 1980s, Vancouver was a typical mid-sized North American city. But after the city hosted Expo 86, something extraordinary happened. This otherwise unremarkable urban centre was transformed into an inspiring world-class city celebrated for its livability, sustainability, and competitiveness. This book tells the story of the urban planning phenomenon called “Vancouverism” and the philosophy and practice behind it. Writing from an insider’s perspective, Larry Beasley, a former chief planner of Vancouver, traces the principles that inspired Vancouverism and the policy framework developed to implement it. A prologue, written by Frances Bula, outlines the political and urban history of Vancouver up until the 1980s. The text is also beautifully illustrated by the author with 200 colour photographs depicting not only the city’s vibrancy but also the principles of Vancouverism in action.

Promotion Strategies for Design and Construction Firms Design and construction firms have to market smarter to remain competitive in the economy of the 1990s. It is more important than ever before to get the most out of marketing-support and promotion budgets. The fact is, marketing and selling professional design and construction services can be more effectively and efficiently implemented with targeted promotion techniques—"smart media." Design and construction firms of every size—from regional specialists to major international multidisciplinary organizations—have to adopt strategies that will differentiate their organization in the marketplace. Promotion Strategies for Design and Construction Firms presents hundreds of viable ideas that are aimed directly at the bottom line. Your firm can adapt from a wide selection of proven communications methods to build a persuasive and positive image utilizing sales letters, publicity, direct mail, advertising, public appearances, brochures, event sponsorship, newsletters, and other mediums. Promotion Strategies for Design and Construction Firms provides clear, accurate guidelines to plan, implement, and track a program that will yield the highest return on your investment of time and funds. Become familiar with promotional options and learn to recognize quality in approach and implementation. Focus on your firm’s strengths and the decision makers you want to reach. Pre-sell to the marketplace by employing media that can effectively deliver the message of your firm’s strengths and accomplishments. Multiply the reach of the promotional activities you undertake. Select programs that keep your clients and prospects informed about the industry and your firm. Establish your firm as an industry leader by sponsorship of status-building events. Promotion Strategies for the Design and Construction Firms is the most thorough book ever produced on the subject. It is extensively illustrated with outstanding examples gathered from successful firms in architecture, landscape architecture, graphic design, interior design, construction, and construction management. Combined with case studies, interviews, and commentary from industry leaders, Promotion Strategies for Design and Construction Firms is an invaluable idea resource. It is a working reference for any company that wants to insure a healthy future by increasing the number of today’s qualified leads that become tomorrow’s profitable projects.