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Sustainable cities, regional policy and development series 7
H A B I T A T I N T L . Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 142-151, 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in Great Britain.
Pergamon
Book Reviews GRAHAM HAUGHTON and COLIN HUNTER, Sustainable Cities, Regional
Policy and Development Series 7 Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London, 1994, 357 pp., £14.95 paperback. There are an increasing number of books covering sustainability and cities. This recent contribution comprehensively surveys the wide subject area and presents it with a very clear structure and prose. It is a text book which should have a wide appeal, especially for those tutors who are under increasing pressure to introduce new modules and do not have the time to research and structure their unique approaches to the material. The book comes with boxes highlighting the key points in each chapter, and key themes and discussion points are featured at the end of each chapter, which should make the task easier both for the tutor and the students. The introduction succinctly outlines the contemporary global environmental concerns in the age of global interdependence. This is followed by the first section of three chapters covering sustainability and urban development. It does not start with a premise that cities are bad for us. It accepts the conclusion of the World Commission on Environment and Development that "the future will be predominantly urban, and the most immediate environmental concerns of most people will be urban ones" (1987). Attention is aptly turned to the potential for improvement in the urban environment. There is a universal effort to improve the standards of living which leads to rising levels of consumption and consequent environmental costs. It is now widely accepted that we try to achieve social justice and integrational equity. Most countries in the world pay lip service to transffontier responsibility, but often neglect it. Until Britain started to de-industrialise it exported acid rain to Sweden without much apology. The authors discuss the global interdependencies which have reached rather indefensible proportions with soaring transport costs. In a world where parsnips, the most English of winter vegetables, arrive on our supermarket shelves from Australia, we need to examine global interdependencies. The book's working definition of a sustainable city is "one in which people and businesses continuously endeavour to improve their natural, built and cultural environments at neighbourhood and regional levels, whilst working in ways which always support the goal of global sustainable development." (p. 27). In Chapter 2, the discussion of the dynamics of urban growth leads to the discussion of city size and settlement planning. The argument for and against very large cities is put in a very balanced way. However, had the authors experienced Calcutta, Cairo, Mexico City and other mega-cities of the current decade, they might have found it difficult to be so dispassionate and balanced. The costs of de-industrialisation and the implication of teleworking are again well argued. The final chapter in the first section outlines the consequences of high density and urban sprawl. Urban sprawl is discussed using the USA and Australia as examples. The case for a reversion to mixed land uses is supported with transport based arguments. The chapter suffers slightly from trying to cover all bases from the Radburn principle to Coleman and Ravetz before turning to good design. Again it is to the authors' credit that they do not sentimentalise about the shanty towns. They recognise the problems of shanty towns which are desperate solutions to the basic need of shelter, but hardly sustainable environments in the long run. 147
148
Book Reviews
The second section of the book covers air and water pollution in separate chapters. These two chapters are informative without being unnecessarily technical. However, one could argue that the book would still be complete without them. One could cynically argue that this section is included to make it attractive to environmental management students. The third section of the book covers topics which are of current concern for students of planning. The first chapter of this section discusses the guiding ecological principles for sustainable urban development, starting with the premise that prevention is better than cure. It concludes with management guidelines for sustainable urban development. The second chapter of this section, on policy instruments for improving the urban environment, has a very clear discussion of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and an equally clear discussion of the Economic Policy Instruments. Tutors preparing reading lists for modules covering 'sustainability' in planning would be well advised to include this chapter. The final chapter "Towards the Sustainable City" is where I hoped to find the original contribution of this book, but I was disappointed. Upon finishing the book, I remembered Gans' words that "in planning . . . most effects are based on prior predispositions, the planner who wishes to affect behaviour has two alternatives: to develop plans that will achieve these predispositions, or to change people's predispositions so that they will be amenable to his plans." (People and Plans, p. 20.) In developed countries, people are increasingly demanding greener solutions. Although they are reluctant to abandon their cars they want pollution-free cities. Planners, in managing the built and natural environment, have a duty to put forward sustainable solutions. Concentrated decentralisation has a certain promise but it needs to be implemented properly and monitored. The authors would be well advised to study the results of the new planning legislation in New Zealand for a revised final chapter in their second edition. It is important that students and professionals change their predispositions to the environments they are to shape and manage, and approach their tasks with a clearer understanding of sustainability. This very competent text book covers the subject properly and is a good introduction to start the journey towards the sustainable city. Tarter Oc
University of Nottingham
T.G. CARPENTER, The Environmental Impact of Railways. John Wiley, Chichester, 1994, 385 pp., £45.00 hardback. By coincidence, this book was published at the same time as a major report from the UK Royal Commission on the Environment, Transport and Environmental Pollution. This latter report contains a wealth of statistics, largely based on the UK, which illustrate the explosive growth of mobility over the last 40 years, mainly caused by the rise of the automobile. Emissions from road vehicles are shown to be causing huge quantities of environmental pollution, both local and global. Particularly startling statistics are that in the UK, road transport produces 500 times more CO pollution and 44 times more NOx pollution than rail and accounts for 87% of transport related CO 2 emissions. Given the anticipated growth in road traffic, the Commission concludes (unsurprisingly!) that the present position is unsustainable and makes many recommendations for change, including a rapid expansion and improvement of public transport facilities and ambitious targets for vastly increased mode shares for both passenger and freight by rail. The book by Carpenter, the only one of its kind, is therefore extremely timely. The book claims to "bring together the main planning and management issues concerning the way railways, established, newly-constructed, or upgraded, have an
Pergamon
Book Reviews GRAHAM HAUGHTON and COLIN HUNTER, Sustainable Cities, Regional
Policy and Development Series 7 Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London, 1994, 357 pp., £14.95 paperback. There are an increasing number of books covering sustainability and cities. This recent contribution comprehensively surveys the wide subject area and presents it with a very clear structure and prose. It is a text book which should have a wide appeal, especially for those tutors who are under increasing pressure to introduce new modules and do not have the time to research and structure their unique approaches to the material. The book comes with boxes highlighting the key points in each chapter, and key themes and discussion points are featured at the end of each chapter, which should make the task easier both for the tutor and the students. The introduction succinctly outlines the contemporary global environmental concerns in the age of global interdependence. This is followed by the first section of three chapters covering sustainability and urban development. It does not start with a premise that cities are bad for us. It accepts the conclusion of the World Commission on Environment and Development that "the future will be predominantly urban, and the most immediate environmental concerns of most people will be urban ones" (1987). Attention is aptly turned to the potential for improvement in the urban environment. There is a universal effort to improve the standards of living which leads to rising levels of consumption and consequent environmental costs. It is now widely accepted that we try to achieve social justice and integrational equity. Most countries in the world pay lip service to transffontier responsibility, but often neglect it. Until Britain started to de-industrialise it exported acid rain to Sweden without much apology. The authors discuss the global interdependencies which have reached rather indefensible proportions with soaring transport costs. In a world where parsnips, the most English of winter vegetables, arrive on our supermarket shelves from Australia, we need to examine global interdependencies. The book's working definition of a sustainable city is "one in which people and businesses continuously endeavour to improve their natural, built and cultural environments at neighbourhood and regional levels, whilst working in ways which always support the goal of global sustainable development." (p. 27). In Chapter 2, the discussion of the dynamics of urban growth leads to the discussion of city size and settlement planning. The argument for and against very large cities is put in a very balanced way. However, had the authors experienced Calcutta, Cairo, Mexico City and other mega-cities of the current decade, they might have found it difficult to be so dispassionate and balanced. The costs of de-industrialisation and the implication of teleworking are again well argued. The final chapter in the first section outlines the consequences of high density and urban sprawl. Urban sprawl is discussed using the USA and Australia as examples. The case for a reversion to mixed land uses is supported with transport based arguments. The chapter suffers slightly from trying to cover all bases from the Radburn principle to Coleman and Ravetz before turning to good design. Again it is to the authors' credit that they do not sentimentalise about the shanty towns. They recognise the problems of shanty towns which are desperate solutions to the basic need of shelter, but hardly sustainable environments in the long run. 147
148
Book Reviews
The second section of the book covers air and water pollution in separate chapters. These two chapters are informative without being unnecessarily technical. However, one could argue that the book would still be complete without them. One could cynically argue that this section is included to make it attractive to environmental management students. The third section of the book covers topics which are of current concern for students of planning. The first chapter of this section discusses the guiding ecological principles for sustainable urban development, starting with the premise that prevention is better than cure. It concludes with management guidelines for sustainable urban development. The second chapter of this section, on policy instruments for improving the urban environment, has a very clear discussion of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and an equally clear discussion of the Economic Policy Instruments. Tutors preparing reading lists for modules covering 'sustainability' in planning would be well advised to include this chapter. The final chapter "Towards the Sustainable City" is where I hoped to find the original contribution of this book, but I was disappointed. Upon finishing the book, I remembered Gans' words that "in planning . . . most effects are based on prior predispositions, the planner who wishes to affect behaviour has two alternatives: to develop plans that will achieve these predispositions, or to change people's predispositions so that they will be amenable to his plans." (People and Plans, p. 20.) In developed countries, people are increasingly demanding greener solutions. Although they are reluctant to abandon their cars they want pollution-free cities. Planners, in managing the built and natural environment, have a duty to put forward sustainable solutions. Concentrated decentralisation has a certain promise but it needs to be implemented properly and monitored. The authors would be well advised to study the results of the new planning legislation in New Zealand for a revised final chapter in their second edition. It is important that students and professionals change their predispositions to the environments they are to shape and manage, and approach their tasks with a clearer understanding of sustainability. This very competent text book covers the subject properly and is a good introduction to start the journey towards the sustainable city. Tarter Oc
University of Nottingham
T.G. CARPENTER, The Environmental Impact of Railways. John Wiley, Chichester, 1994, 385 pp., £45.00 hardback. By coincidence, this book was published at the same time as a major report from the UK Royal Commission on the Environment, Transport and Environmental Pollution. This latter report contains a wealth of statistics, largely based on the UK, which illustrate the explosive growth of mobility over the last 40 years, mainly caused by the rise of the automobile. Emissions from road vehicles are shown to be causing huge quantities of environmental pollution, both local and global. Particularly startling statistics are that in the UK, road transport produces 500 times more CO pollution and 44 times more NOx pollution than rail and accounts for 87% of transport related CO 2 emissions. Given the anticipated growth in road traffic, the Commission concludes (unsurprisingly!) that the present position is unsustainable and makes many recommendations for change, including a rapid expansion and improvement of public transport facilities and ambitious targets for vastly increased mode shares for both passenger and freight by rail. The book by Carpenter, the only one of its kind, is therefore extremely timely. The book claims to "bring together the main planning and management issues concerning the way railways, established, newly-constructed, or upgraded, have an