New Books in AUD Library: Architecture

30-Second Architecture : the 50 most significant principles and styles in architecture, each explained in half a minute. by Edward Denison

Seeing Trees by Sonja Dümpelmann A fascinating and beautifully illustrated volume that explains what street trees tell us about humanity's changing relationship with nature and the city   Today, cities around the globe are planting street trees to mitigate the effects of climate change. However, as landscape historian Sonja Dümpelmann explains, the planting of street trees in cities to serve specific functions is not a new phenomenon. In her eye-opening work, Dümpelmann shows how New York City and Berlin began systematically planting trees to improve the urban climate during the nineteenth century, presenting the history of the practice within its larger social, cultural, and political contexts.   A unique integration of empirical research and theory, Dümpelmann's richly illustrated work uncovers this important untold story. Street trees--variously regarded as sanitizers, nuisances, upholders of virtue, economic engines, and more--reflect the changing relationship between humans and nonhuman nature in urban environments. Offering valuable insights and frameworks, this authoritative volume will be an important resource for years to come.

Housing Design for an Increasingly Older Population by Victor Regnier "Longer lifespans and the needs of the oldest old are challenging the senior living industry to find bold and compassionate solutions to combine programs and services with housing.  Victor Regnier''s latest research provides a thoughtful and insightful roadmap that arrays new ways of thinking from small-scale settings to community based options.  International case studies offer possible solutions with the best thinking from around the globe...all with Vic''s unique perspective of extracting themes and concepts that are broadly applicable and essential to addressing the needs of those that live on life''s fragile edge." --David Hoglund, FAIA "Supporting the independence of the oldest-old is a tough problem Victor Regnier addresses in his latest book on aging and housing. Like previous work, Victor relies on the best practices of northern Europeans to outline a three-prong approach.  First, providing extremely comprehensive home care services in an "apartment for life" setting.  Second, reforming the conventional nursing home by exploring small group style accommodations.  Third, combining new technology with community based services to age in place.  Case studies document the experiences of others in making these programs work here and abroad.  The magnitude of the 90+ and 100+ population increases in the next 50 years make it clear how important it is to address this concern today." --Edward Steinfeld Darch "The movement of health care from the institution to the home is a theme that Regnier identifies as one of the most important lessons in rethinking the issue of how to support the ever growing and increasingly aged older population here and abroad.  He examines simple but profound approaches we can take in making long-term care a more humane proposition.  Familiar themes like humanizing technology and optimizing the impact of the natural environment are brought together with clear policy thinking about what we need to do. The timing is good because the impact of this growing segment of society will have major repercussions on health care for the next 50-70 years." --Stephan Verderber, Ph.D. A comprehensive guide to designing housing for the world''s aging population The dilemma of helping older people maintain their independence through better housing with services is growing. This book presents innovative solutions for those who create and provide housing for the world''s increasingly longer-living population. By focusing on three specific housing and service arrangements, it offers alternatives that provide greater freedom of choice than the current living arrangements that exist today. It presents selected examples of housing and service solutions from the US, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands to stimulate thinking about the possibilities of community-based service models. Housing Design for an Increasingly Older Population looks at a trio of options for housing the "oldest-old:" the Dutch Apartment/Condo for Life Model (AFL); decentralized Small/Green Houses; and the provision of enhanced personal and health care for people who want to stay in their own home. It offers unique and eye-opening chapters covering: what older people want; what age changes affect independence; demographics and living arrangements; how long-term care is defined; concepts and objectives for housing the frail; care giving and management practices that avoid an institutional lifesty≤ innovative case studies; programs that encourage staying at home with service assistance; therapeutic use of outdoor spaces; how technology will help people stay independent; and more. Based on the author''s numerous conversations with other experts, as well as his examinations of high quality settings from Northern Europe and the US Building case study examples showcase innovative and compassionate solutions In-depth coverage of three major systems that work Examines successful programs such as PACE, Friendly Cities, NORC, and the "Village to Village Network" to demonstrate the progress made in helping older, frail people stay in their own homes for as long as possible Housing Design for an Increasingly Older Population: Redefining Assisted Living for the Mentally and Physically Frail is an important book for those who create, design, and manage assisted living and skilled nursing facilities, as well as for those who set policies regarding health, and personal care for our world''s aging society.

To Build a City in Africa by Michelle Provoost (Editor); Peter Gotsch (Text by); Rachel Keeton (Editor); Edgar Pieterse (Text by); David Sims (Text by) Africa's population and economic growth make it the world's fastest urbanizing continent. While some might still associate Africa with rural development, the future of Africa is, in fact, very urban. This urbanization poses a huge challenge in areas with fragile institutional frameworks and chronic poverty; new city-dwellers frequently end up in self-organized settlements without basic services. Developers and investors have offered one alternative, designing and building new towns in Africa modeled after Asian and American cities. But is this really a proper alternative? Does one size fit all? To Build a City in Africa brings together authors from various academic, political and design backgrounds to explore case studies on new towns in Ghana, Egypt, South Africa, Angola, Morocco and Kenya, among other examples. This publication provides a critical narrative about African urbanization and questions the western world's role in the radical transformations happening in Africa today.

Contested City by Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani For forty years, as New York's Lower East Side went from disinvested to gentrified, residents lived with a wound at the heart of the neighborhood, a wasteland of vacant lots known as the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA). Most of the buildings on the fourteen-square-block area were condemned in 1967, displacing thousands of low-income people of color with the promise that they would soon return to new housing--housing that never came.  Over decades, efforts to keep out affordable housing sparked deep-rooted enmity and stalled development, making SPURA a dramatic study of failed urban renewal, as well as a microcosm epitomizing the greatest challenges faced by American cities since World War II.  Artist and urban scholar Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani was invited to enter this tense community to support a new approach to planning, which she accepted using collaboration, community organizing, public history, and public art. Having engaged her students at The New School in a multi-year collaboration with community activists, the exhibitions and guided tours of her Layered SPURA project provided crucial new opportunities for dialogue about the past, present, and future of the neighborhood.  Simultaneously revealing the incredible stories of community and activism at SPURA, and shedding light on the importance of collaborative creative public projects, Contested City bridges art, design, community activism, and urban history. This is a book for artists, planners, scholars, teachers, cultural institutions, and all those who seek to collaborate in new ways with communities.