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Alexander Garvin, The American City: What Works and What Doesn't (McGraw-Hill, 1996) Garvin, the current Vice President for the Planning, Design and Development at the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, links, in the daunting 477 page book, public planning and private sector investment, arguing for an increased federal role in urban America. Each chapter begins with the statement of a planning problem followed by case studies of planning successes and failures. The American City: What Works, What Doesn't won the 1996 American Institute of Architects book award. Dauntingly encyclopedic but indispensable to the journalist wanting to cover urban design issues, The American City reads like a more informed and engaging version of the typical high school textbook. In chapters such as "A Realistic Approach to City and Suburban Planning," "Ingredients of Success" (market, location, design, financing, entrepreneurship, time, and the role of the government), "Revitalizing Neighborhoods," and "Land Use Regulation," Garvin covers the gamut of urban design issues by providing specific case studies. This illustrated "sourcebook" ranges from insights on architectural and economic forces to hard-to-find information on zoning laws and legal concepts behind land-use regulation. Garvin explains his project this way in the preface of the book: "My purpose in presenting new information about classic programs and projects and fresh material on some that have never before been examined within a historical context is not to be original, nor to mention interesting innovations, but to evaluate the success or failure of specific strategies for fixing the American city and to recommend further action." MORE: Garvin's Website Yale Alumni Magazine profile of Garvin Reviews |
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