TOWARD THE LIVABLE CITY (tr)

Toward the Livable City is intended for commuters, suburbanites, and city dwellers concerned about making their lives more livable and interested in knowing what that might mean. Combining first hand accounts of the attractions and distractions of city life, this book also introduces a wide range of perspectives about creating successful, livable cities, with examples from across America and around the world.

The book conveys what leading thinkers—including James Howard Kunstler, Jane Holtz Kay, Tony Hiss, Phillip Lopate, Bill McKibben, Myron Orfield, and john powell, among others—say about such topics as smart growth, opportunity-based housing, traffic calming, pedestrian rights, regional planning, riverfront redevelopment, urban agriculture, and the pleasures of a saunter down tree-lined streets to restaurants, theatres, shops, with the presence of other people.

The mayor of Curitiba, Brazil, closed downtown streets to cars and built bus stops that load and unload passengers with the same speed as subways. In Boston, urban agriculture produces more than 10,000 pounds of vegetables each season. Minneapolis has redeveloped its riverfront while Manhattan ponders what to do along the Hudson. With these and other examples, Toward the Livable City reveals the many benefits of parks, healthy neighborhoods, and mixed use communities.

"This collection of essays is a must-read for all those interested in civility and cities." -- Spirituality & Health, February 2004

"This is a stimulating and intelligent collection, one that ranges from big policy questions to intensely personal reflections." -- New Urban News, June, 2004

"Toward the Livable City delivers what its title implies... Buchwald's book communicates hope, not despair." -- The Common Review, Spring 2004

"a collection of thoughtful - and thought-provoking - essays." -- City Pages, February 11, 2004

Buchwald's essayists build a livable city of their own with lively, diverse reflections that mix feet-on-the-ground with a little pie-in-the-sky. -- Sojourner's Magazine, Apr-May, 2004

These writers gently nudge us toward compact neighborhoods where kids can play and grown-ups can stroll to the store. -- High Country News, April 12, 2004

This is an engrossing book worth the time of anyone who cares about their environment. -- Netsurfer Books, may 19, 2004