Comparative Urban Land Use Planning: Best Practice (Architecture / Urban & Land Use Planning)

Throughout the world, city planners and governments grapple with the challenges of urban planning using remarkably similar land use regimes. Yet the realization is increasing that real urban problems – crime, decay, drug abuse, inequality, depression and alienation – are not easily solved by the classic devices of a strategic plan and a zoning map. Planning regimes are therefore in constant flux, as planners and governments adjust and experiment to address these problems, often with little awareness as to what they are trying to accomplish. In "Comparative Urban Land Use Planning: Best Practice", Leslie A. Stein digs deeper, drawing on examples from around the world to discover the best practice responses to the critical issues of planning and urban social problems. Although every city has its own cultural and political milieu, patterns of change and levels of success can be discerned and universal lessons learned. By comparing different urban planning approaches and considering their underlying ideologies and assumptions, he proposes a more insightful approach to the role of land use planning. This book is both scholarly and emotional, expressing a great love of cities and calling for a more clear-eyed approach for their care.

Leslie Stein joined Pace Law School in 2011 as a Scholar in Residence. Just prior to coming to Pace, Professor Stein was a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School, where he worked closely with Professor Michael Gerrard. Professor Stein has taught in England, Canada, and Australia, and served as a Judge in Australia in land use and environmental disputes for over ten years. Professor Stein is an LLB and LLM graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School (Toronto, Canada). He received his BA from the State University of New York at Buffalo. His expertise includes land use planning and climate change law as well as the governance of metropolitan strategies. Professor Stein has served as Counsel for the development of metropolitan strategies for several cities. His current research is on the effects of climate change on the legal system.