Optional Reading List - Winter 2011

As part of a continuing series of recommended readings from the professors and students of Eastern Washington University's Urban and Regional Planning program, here is your latest optional reading list!

The works, and my understanding of them, are below. If the descriptions are inaccurate, then it's because I misunderstood and I'd appreciate a heads-up!

A Sand County Almanac, by Aldo Leopold, nonfiction recommended by Dr. Zovanyi. In a beautifully written series of essays about his observations of nature, Leopold expresses the importance of preserving the environment and his concept of the Land Ethic.

Our Ecological Footprint, by Williams E. Rees and Mathis Wackernagel, nonfiction recommended by Dr. Zovanyi. This is the book that defines the concept of our "footprint" and argues that our combined footprint is exceeding the planet's capacity to renew itself.

The Last Landscape, nonfiction by William H. Whyte recommended by Dr. Hurand. This book, published more than four decades ago, urges Americans to make better use of space. While others noted its importance at the time (Jane Jacobs called it "an excellent book"), it is relevant to today's sprawl-oriented nation searching for an alternative.

Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn, fiction recommended by Dr. Zovanyi. I reviewed this after I read it a few weeks back. It's a story about Mother Culture, and a challenge presented to her by a telepathic gorilla. No, it's not science fiction: it's a survey of human history and human present, and asks us to consider what the human future is going to be.

Integral Urbanism, by Nan Ellin, nonfiction recommended by Dr. Winchell. It documents the transition from mechanical, rigid modernistic architecture to humanist post-modern architecture and its application to New Urbanism.

Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development, nonfiction by Herman Daly, recommended by Dr. Zovanyi. This is an economic treatise recognizing the upcoming change to the very nature of economics when the irrational assumption of unending growth is finally overthrown.

House Form and Culture, nonfiction by Amos Rapoport and recommended by Dr. Hurand. Amos Rapoport is an environmental psychology researcher, studying the complex interplay between how people change their environment and how the environment affects human behavior. In this work, he discusses the connection between the culture of a people and the kind of housing they construct.

The Levittowners, nonfiction by Herbert Gans and recommended by Dr. Hurand. The first infamous suburban development is studied to determine what kind of culture was being created in an extended area of mass-produced, identical houses.

The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America, nonfiction by Timothy Egan, recommended by, well, everyone. Just over 100 years ago, there was a spectacular fire here in the northwest in which an area the size of Connecticut burned in a weekend. The flames moved faster than a horse at full gallop. The frontier was officially closed by this point in American history, and Roosevelt was trying to ignite a tradition to conserve this nation's wild spaces. This work tells the story of the fire, and how it changed the way America treats its public lands.

Four the Future - Housing

• Hailey council repeals affordable housing rules
  Source: Idaho Statesman; October 13, 2010
  Summary: In a report mentioned in my Foundations of Planning class last quarter, the resort town of Hailey, Idaho, repealed its affordable housing requirement due to fear of litigation. Prior to the repeal, 20% of new subdivisions were required to be deed-restricted community housing. This is a tool used nationwide. Annexations and planned developments will still have the requirement.
  Opinion: The comments on the article are telling. One person wants a reduction in all regulations (Somalia-style, apparently). Another (sarcastically, I hope) calls for "your kind" to live elsewhere, and just drive into town to "do our yard work, teach our children and protect us from fires and criminals." I could not have said it better. There's no better way to make a disgruntled working class by banishing them to the sticks each night.
  
• CNU and NTBA's Reform of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and related housing programs
  Source: Congress for the New Urbanism; December 17, 2010
  Summary: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two federally chartered secondary mortgage agencies are implicated in the housing bubble. Part of the meltdown was precipitated by the distortionary effects of HUD, Fannie, and Freddie’s policies of limiting the amount of non-residential space included in mixed use developments. Mixed use developments have held their value, yet remain substantially excluded from the secondary mortgage market. Fannie Mae allows projects to be up to 20% non-residential; Freddie Mac allows 25%. HUD’s capital program restricts imputed non-residential rent to 20%. The Congress for the New Urbanism and the National Town Builders Association propose to raise these limits to 50%. This would allow the market to determine the mix, rather than federal policy.
  Opinion: When these loans are ineligible for the secondary mortgage market, banks must carry the note and they become unable to resell them in an efficient manner. And while I do believe that banks should be required to retain a portion of the project risk (after all, if they have no skin in the game, they can do whatever they want and have proven they will), I can see how these limitations could limit the availability of funding for mixed use projects. Alternatively, it could cause the residential uses to be exclusively high-rent in order to make the retail space a small percentage of the overall cost. Either way, it is bad for cities and causes sprawl through federal housing policy.
  
• Tiny house movement thrives amid real estate bust
  Source: Yahoo! News; November 29, 2010
  Summary: Despite of the housing crisis, or perhaps because of it, one sector of the housing market is booming: that of the "tiny house." Tiny houses can be as small as the 89 square foot house mentioned in the article, but entire families can live in a 500 square foot house. They invite a comparison to trailers, but these are built with higher quality materials. They range in cost from $20,000 to $50,000.
  Opinion: You can visit the tiny house blog at tinyhouseblog.com. This concept could be useful for accessory dwelling units (also known as granny flats). Basically, you’d put this in your backyard, and you’d have a room for another (tiny) family. This allows the community to grow without sprawling further. The back of the envelope calculation ($25,000, 20-year, 6% loan) is only $179.11/month, which is affordable for all but the most destitute. And R. Buckminster Fuller would be proud (I’ll explain that statement in a later post!) This is unlikely to become a large segment of the housing market, but jurisdictions should be prepared to deal with them.
  
• Homeownership stays at the lowest level in a decade
  Source: USA Today; November 2, 2010
  Summary: Prior to the Clinton and Bush administrations, home ownership rate was level at about 64%. Upon the deregulation of the investment banks, home ownership rose to 69% in 2004. With foreclosures and weak demand, home ownership has now dropped to 66.9%, the lowest since 1999. Housing vacancy is now at 18.8 million units, or 14% of all housing.
  
  
  A man rides a horse by an abandoned home in Las Vegas. Spencer Platt, Getty Images
  
  Opinion: This statistic would tend to indicate that we still have a bit lower to go to return to the levels before the unwise deregulation of investment banks. But, note, that the small percentage increase caused a massive increase in the cost of home ownership and shenanigans on the part of casino owners…I mean bankers. The increase in the ownership percentage was clearly not worth the worldwide pain being suffered now. Please let it be a lesson.
  

"Mixed-income housing, successes for whom?"

Because you all know I'm a party animal, and I certainly wouldn't want to disappoint any of you, tonight I was reading an article entitled "The Role of Public, Private, Non-profit and Community Sectors in Shaping Mixed-income Housing Outcomes in the US."

Yes, I know! As one of my friends quipped when I mentioned it, "I can't wait until you're in charge." I'm with ya, but I'd rather have noble, workable ideas in charge, not people. Can such ideas be found here?

The article outlines the two types of goals revitalization efforts can pursue. First are place-based goals, such as building of "housing stock, business development, telecommunications, water/sewer/electric and roadways" (Fraser & Kick, 2007, p. 2358). The second type are person-based goals which are the "building of individual and social capital so that they may take advantage of economic opportunities (such as, job skills development, educational improvement, poverty amelioration and moving people into homeownership)" (Fraser & Kick, 2007, p. 2358).

(Sidebar: this was written in 2007, before the general public realized that home ownership isn't always an economic opportunity. On the other hand, researchers engaged in urban studies really should have known better.)

The authors posit that successful achievement of these goals depends on 1) agreement upon the goals of the program between the public, private, non-profit and community sectors; and, 2) sufficient organizational capacity to achieve the goals. In effect, they say that even if everyone agrees, it is not enough until everyone is has the managerial skills and monetary resources to achieve them. They also observe that place-based goals are most easily achieved through cooperation between the private and public sectors and person-based goals are best achieved through cooperation between the non-profit and community sectors.

The article documents two neighborhood revitalization projects, one in Durham, North Carolina, the other in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The projects were similar (Fraser & Kick, 2007, p. 2362) in that they :

• each are "an extension of the downtown revitalization effort";
• "have the goals of creation of favourable people- and place-based outcomes";
• "mobilised by a belief in the proposition that concentrated poverty is unhealthy"; and
• private stakeholders...need to be persuaded to invest in the target areas".

Durham failed in a spectacular way, including public scandals and the total revamping of the Durham Housing Authority (DHA). Two reasons were given:

• the DHA "did not have the skill sets or capacity necessary" (Fraser & Kick, 2007, p. 2366); and
• "there was clearly less political will on the part of the public or private sectors to focus on the expressed goal of poverty amelioration" (Fraser & Kick, 2007, p. 2367).

Chattanooga apparently succeeded by changing the property value of the area, but significantly only for those who moved into the neighborhood. Original residents remained poor or were driven out by higher property taxes or incentive to sell at higher, gentrified, prices. The authors note that "many of the public-sector actors in Chattanooga were the private-sector actors" including the fact that two successive mayors of Chattanooga at the time were "both private-sector developers who own a great deal of downtown property" (Fraser & Kick, 2007, p. 2372). "Greater capacity through unity...could guarantee the place-based success of mixed-income changes" (Fraser & Kick, 2007, pp. 2372-3).

The central criticism of the piece is, "mixed-income housing, successes for whom?" (Fraser, J. C. & Kick, E. L., 2007, p. 2373). The answer as to whether revitalization efforts are successful depends on whether the focus is on the place (buildings, roads, and cable TV) or on actual real-live people.

Reference: Fraser, J. C., & Kick, E. L. (2007). The Role of Public, Private, Non-profit and Community Sectors in Shaping Mixed-income Housing Outcomes in the US. Urban Studies, 44 (12), 2357-2377.

Review: The Nature of Cities

The Nature of Cities is a documentary which explores ways in which nature can be integrated into urban landscapes to reduce energy consumption, improve health, inspire curiosity, and build community (not to mention reconnecting urban dwellers to the nature around them).

The film takes us to locations around the US and Europe, including Austin, New York, San Diego and cities in Sweden, The Netherlands and France. Each location has a story to tell about how the community is improved by adopting "regenerative systems."

Austin contributes stories about how the transportation department designed bridges to encourage bat habitation and the reaction of city dwellers to having a million bats living within their midst (I assure you, it's positive!) and a native plant garden which is helping restore the landscape. San Diego's canyons, saved from development due to steep terrain and flooding streams, are nature preserves which can bring people from diverse neighborhoods together for recreational purposes.

The European cities contribute stories about green roof designs which extend the life of the building, manage rainwater, and reduce building heating costs. There are communities which have managed to reduce their dependence on automobiles, which allows those developments to turn the streets into gardens and playgrounds. One development retains a forested area which is far more used than a standard playground because it is more interesting with more things to explore and discover.

The video is a survey, certainly not a how-to, but it does provide food for thought. I would encourage viewers to look at the various design elements to think about what kinds of things appeal to them. The ideas presented are site-specific, and there shouldn't be a need to replicate them precisely. But, for instance, where there is a water feature fed by captured rainwater which otherwise be a flooding hazard, should it have a waterfall? What kinds of plants would you want to keep the water clean and provide an attractive space? Critically important: what would make it fun for the kids?

Below is a short preview of the movie. For those of you lucky enough to have access to the regional university libraries, it is available for checkout.



The DVD is available for $24.95 for individuals at the Throughline Productions web site.

References
Davis, C., Beatley, T., Kellert, S. R., Louv, R., Oblinger, M., Throughline Productions (Firm), & Electric Lodge (Firm). (2009). The nature of cities. Boulder, Colo.: Throughline Productions.

Four the Future - September 15

No food shortage (yet), more grass-waste-to-energy, preserving habitat, and southern new urbanism.

• Not a Food Crisis
  Source: New York Times; September 12, 2010
  Summary: In this editorial, the New York Times worries about the effects of a Russian ban on wheat exports. They argue that countries should not overreact and cause food crises by preventing the free flow of foodstuff across borders. India has had a ban in place, and it has resulted in rotting food stores. Large exporters should all agree to not impose controls.
  Opinion: Expect more of this. This year, one quarter of the sown wheat in Russia has been destroyed by fires fueled by drought. As climate change alters the food crops which can be grown in their traditional places, there will be upheavals. This is beginning to impose itself upon the consciousness of strategic thinkers. Source Integral has advised middle eastern nations that they should stop their strategy of outsourcing food (Part One) (Part Two) because there will be no place which will sell them food without a close, supportive relationship. We do not do food planning well in this nation. We depend, primarily, on abundance. But with our current reliance on international food trade, food prices intimately linked to oil prices, and regional responses to climate change, depending on hopes of abundance will not be a safe strategy in the future.
  
• Ban on field burning prompts plan to convert straw to energy
  Source: The Oregonian; September 12, 2010
  Summary: Oregon had the same kind of grass smoke problems that other grass-burning areas have had. The problem got so bad that in 1988, intentional grass fires caused a 21-vehicle pileup on Interstate 5 killing seven and injuring a number of others. In 2007, Eugene-area legislators proposed to ban all burning. Consequently, several sites are now being considered to turn grass straw into "electricity, compost, fertilizer and compacted wood products."
  Opinion: This is a different approach to the grass-waste-to-energy concept presented before. Whereas the other project is being funded to make generators which operate on each farm, this concept brings it all together onto a larger site. While the previous concept has the benefit of providing distributed energy to independent farmers, the latter uses more of the plant for beneficial use, and could be base load bearing. It will be interesting to see which concept wins out, or if they can coexist side-by-side.
  
• Bonneville Power Administration releases plan to protect 16,880 acres of Willamette Valley habitat
  Source: The Oregonian; September 11, 2010
  Summary: The Bonneville Power Administration is dedicating $125 million over the course of 15 years to preserve habitats due to the construction of dams in the Willamette Valley. The total area to be preserved is 16,880 acres. The State of Oregon, tribes, and nonprofits will be able to purchase conservation easements to protect diminished habitats. 9657 acres were preserved earlier. Rates will not rise, as it has already been taken into account. The draft is open to public comment until October 12.
  Opinion: The area to be preserved is about 2/3rds the side of the City of Spokane Valley. From these links, you can read the agreement and comment (scroll down to the “Willamette Mitigation Settlement Agreement” section). Not only do you live on this same earth as the fish that were affected by these dams, local power companies are BPA customers so you’re paying for these lands to be purchased and rehabilitated. If you have a comment to make, you certainly have a right to do so. I wonder...has anything like this happened in Washington?
  
• Waco, Texas embraces growth and 'new urbanism'
  Source: USA Today; September 13, 2010
  Summary: Waco, Texas, used to be deserted when people went home from work. Now, there are people and cars and activity downtown because the city has embraced a mixed use plan for downtown. The market is moving toward walkability. They’re developing along the banks of the Brazos River. They’re leaving behind the sprawl and the high cost of "roads, utility lines, and services to remote areas." Tulsa and Baton Rouge are also focusing on this kind of development.
  Opinion: Light rail in Salt Lake City, new urbanism in Waco. Clearly, resisting these movements is not conservative, so what's the new excuse going to be?