“Built Environmental Justice” is the joke of the day…

Ask Richard Layman of Citizens Planning Coalition, Washington DC, who recently sent us an inspiring e-mail (we hope you don’t mind us sharing this on our site):

Community building isn’t just about organizing, it’s about vision and having some sense of what are the components of “livability,” what makes a great neighborhood and a great city.  In other words, it’s hard to organize and build community when you don’t know what you want.  (Hence my joke since 2002 that I work on “built environmental justice.”)  This comes down to urban design, the quality of civic assets (parks, libraries, schools, recreation centers, etc.) that serve citizens, transportation, housing, viable commercial districts, etc.

At Our Blocks, we are humble in our efforts to provide the best known resources available and are very grateful for the insight that Richard has brought our attention to. Please take a look at the list below for valuable links/books that Richard highly recommends (I included a short caption for each link). Enjoy:

1. Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs (a greatly influential book on the subject of urban planning in the 20th century)

2. Cities: Back from the Edge by Roberta Gratz and Mintz (a book about downtown revitalization)

3. The Living City by Frank Wright (an innovative book of Wright’s Architecture career focused upon the nine basic building types found in the living city)

4. Cities in Full by Steve Belmont (a book that offers possible remedies to revitalize urban areas)

5. City: Rediscovering the Center by William Whyte (currently out of print; book provides an engaging look at the variety of human interactions which make downtown vibrant)

6. Deepening Democracy by Wright and Fung (book that brings together cases of what the authors call ‘empowered participatory governance’, in which popular political participation becomes a vehicle for equity and efficiency)

7. Project for Public Spaces (a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people create and sustain public places that build communities; PPS also offers training courses available online). PPS offers a workbook, How to Turn a Place Around, which is a must have for every urban designer and landscape architect.

8. Neighborhood Planning (web site that provides neighborhood planning resources)

9. Urban Places and Spaces (Richard’s blog that offers over 2,000 links on various subjects concerned with urban revitalization)

Personally, I think PPS is a wonderful organization and I am looking forward to read, “How to Turn a Place Around.” Thanks again, Richard, for a dose of your great knowledge!