Home » TCC 2008 Forum » Questions

1. jmcname
   Member

   I am a prof at Linfield College. I am developing a seminar course around the carfree theme. Can folks help me develop a reading list for students? It would include fiction and nonfiction. Areas could include urbanization, environment, built environment, living simply etc. Anything with a carfree and/or bicycle tie in. Thanks..Jeff

   Posted 2 years ago #

2. mosha13
   Member

   Jeff,

   contact me at mosha13@juno.com

   moe

   Posted 2 years ago #

3. Elly
   Administrator

   The ones that come to mind first are Jane Jacobs' Death and Life of Great American Cities and James Howard Kunstler's Geography of Nowhere.

   I also think about Mike Davis's City of Quartz all the time along these lines, even though he doesn't specifically go into transportation issues. It's a history of the built environment in LA and its relation to class violence.

   Posted 2 years ago #

4. jbeaston
   Member

   For a nice historical view of how we got to where we're at, check out

   The geography of nowhere : the rise and decline of America's man-made landscape / James Howard Kunstler

   -John

   Posted 2 years ago #

5. Ollie
   Member

   Check out: Comfort, Cleanliness and Convenience: The Social Organization of Normality
   by Elizabeth Shove.

   It covers the sociology of consumption pretty well. I think she has some 10pg versions of this too.

   http://www.bergpublishers.com/Default.aspx?TabId=1097&currentreview=1

   Posted 2 years ago #

6. Aliciann11
   Member

   although some may not see the relevancy, i sincerely believe that including a good amount of information about supporting locally-owned businesses is required in a course or courses about creating carfree cities or living carfree. such businesses tend to be smaller, and located in more central and ped/bike-friendly areas - and maybe even get deliveries by bike and purchase other local goods/raw materials. one great book is "The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses are Beating the Global Competition," by Michael Shuman. He'll actually be in town June 25 at the First Unitarian Church at 1011 SW 12th, 6:30p.

   Posted 2 years ago #

7. Aliciann11
   Member

   
   

   Posted 2 years ago #

8. nathan
   Moderator

   I would also highly recommend Jacobs and Kunstler (especially Home from Nowhere).

   Here are some other books I have found helpful in my understanding of urban form - particularly the role of transport systems in shaping cities.

   How Cities Work, Alex Marshall
   Carfree Cities, J.H. Crawford
   The Transit Metropolis, Robert Cervero
   Cities in Full, Steve Belmont
   The Timeless Way of Building, Christopher Alexander. See also A Pattern Language - architecture as if humans mattered.

   Posted 2 years ago #

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