Tara Lohan reviews David Owen's new book, Green Metropolis, which extols the ecological virtues of Manhattan. In her opinion, Owen doesn't ask the right questions and ignores some inconvenient facts.
Lohan points out that among the problems in Owen's book is that he ignores the immense garbage produced by New Yorkers, as well as any water consumption and contamination issues. .
"While New Yorkers get Owen's applause for taking public transit, that doesn't apply to the folks riding trains like Metro North or the Long Island Railroad, which connect the city to the suburbs. This, Owen says, helps enable more sprawl. But surely we couldn't take the several million Long Islanders and cram them into Manhattan could we? At what point does the city reach its carrying capacity? Owen doesn't say. Throughout the book, Owen seems so intensely sold on New York's greenness because it is almost accidental -- no one has to try too hard, it just works out that way because people have to live so close together. That's great and all, but shouldn't we be trying to set the bar a little higher?"
FULL STORY: What's the Big Hubbub Over a New Book Arguing NYC Is America's Greenest City?
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research