One of our favourite FAQ at UBC SCARP is whether we have a summer reading list for students who might want to do some planning-related reading.
We're delighted to share some of the work that's inspired us. We hope this will become a new SCARP summer tradition. Take a look at some of these tremendous works!
Click for more details
“In essence, Seeing Like a State is a book about the complexity of organic systems, be they human or environmental, and the hubris of those who intervene in them in immense and simplistic ways. A fundamental tenet of systems thinking is that all natural systems are highly complex and resistant to precise prediction. In approaching any systems intervention, whether it is an adjustment in the prime interest rate or prescribing a drug to a cancer patient, the intervener's prospect of achieving favorable results depends largely on a thorough understanding of the complex inner workings of the system. Throughout Scott's book are examples of planners and political leaders who were ignorant of the practical interrelationships in society or nature.” (Summary from a review by John Kriedler)
Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City
Richard Sennett
Click for more details:
“In Building and Dwelling, Richard Sennett distils a lifetime's thinking and practical experience to explore the relationship between the good built environment and the good life. He argues for, and describes in rich detail, the idea of an open city, one in which people learn to manage complexity. He shows how the design of cities can enrich or diminish the everyday experience of those who dwell in them. The book ranges widely - from London, Paris and Barcelona to Shanghai, Mumbai and Medellin in Colombia - and draws on classic thinkers such as Tocqueville, Heidegger, Max Weber, and Walter Benjamin. It also draws on Sennett's many decades as a practical planner himself, testing what works, what doesn't, and why. He shows what works ethically is often the most practical solution for cities' problems. This is a humane and thrilling book, which allows us to think freshly about how we live in cities.”
The Image of the City
Kevin Lynch
Click for more details
“What does the city's form actually mean to the people who live there? What can the city planner do to make the city's image more vivid and memorable to the city dweller? To answer these questions, Mr. Lynch, supported by studies of Los Angeles, Boston, and Jersey City, formulates a new criterion—imageability—and shows its potential value as a guide for the building and rebuilding of cities. The wide scope of this study leads to an original and vital method for the evaluation of city form. The architect, the planner, and certainly the city dweller will all want to read this book.”
Access by adding “UBC” to Library Settings on Google Scholar and searching for “Image of the City.” PDF also accessible here.
Planning on the edge: Vancouver and the challenges of reconciliation, social justice, and sustainable development
Editors: Penny Gurstein and Tom Hutton.
Click for more details
"Vancouver is one of the most intensely studied medium-sized cities in the world and heralded everywhere as a model for sustainable development. In Planning on the Edge, nationally and internationally renowned planning scholars, activists, and Indigenous leaders assess whether the city's reputation is warranted. While recognizing the many successes of the 'Vancouverism' model, the contributors acknowledge that the forces of globalization and speculative property development have increased social inequality and housing insecurity since the 1980s in the city and the region. To determine the city's prospects for overcoming these problems, they look at city planning from all angles and perspectives, including planning for the Indigenous population, environmental and disaster planning, housing and migration, and transportation and water management. Together, they provide a comprehensive and integrative profile of Vancouver's development history and planning record. By looking at policies at the local, provincial, and federal levels and taking reconciliation with Indigenous peoples into account, Planning on the Edge highlights the kinds of policies and practices needed to reorient Vancouver's development trajectory along a more environmentally sound and equitable path."
Mapping possibility: finding purpose and hope in community planning
Leonie Sandercock
Click for more details
"Mapping Possibility traces the intellectual, professional and emotional life of Leonie Sandercock. In an impressive career spanning nearly half a century as an educator, researcher, artist, and practitioner, Sandercock is one of the leading figures in community planning and has dedicated her life to pursuing social, cultural and environmental justice through her work. In this book, Leonie Sandercock reflects on her past writings and films, which played an important role in redefining the field in more progressive directions, both in theory and practice. It includes previously published essays in conjunction with insightful commentaries prefacing each section and four new essays, two discussing Sandercock's most recent work on a feature film project with Indigenous partners. The book questions whether there is a way forward for the city and community building professions and draws a map of hope for emerging planners dedicated to equity, justice and sustainability. Innovative, visionary and audacious, Leonie Sandercock's community-based scholarship and practice in the fields of urban planning and community development have engaged some of the most intractable issues of our time - inequality, discrimination, and racism. Through award-winning books and films, she has influenced the planning field to become more culturally fluent, addressing diversity and difference through structural change. This is a book to inspire the next generation of community planners, as well as current practitioners and students in planning, cultural studies, urban studies, architecture and community development"
Land of Destiny: A History of Vancouver Real Estate
Jesse Donaldson
Click for more details
“Even before it was a city, Vancouver was a property speculator’s wet dream. Ever since Europeans first laid claim to the Squamish Nation territory in the 1870s, the real estate industry has held the region in its grip. Its influence has been grotesquely pervasive at every level of civic life, determining landmarks like Stanley Park and City Hall, as well as street names, neighbourhoods – even the name “Vancouver” itself. Land of Destiny explores that influence, starting in 1862, with the first sale of land in the West End, and continuing up until the housing crisis of today. It also examines the backroom dealings, the skulduggery and nepotism, the racism and the obscene profits, while at the same time revealing that the same forces which made Vancouver what it is – speculation and global capital – are the same ones that shape it today, showing that more than anything else, the history of real estate and the history of Vancouver are one and the same. And it’s been dirty as hell.”
Urban Landscape Fundamentals
Erick Villagomez
Click for more details
“This ongoing initiative is intended to give readers a strong baseline for understanding fundamental aspects of the built landscape in a clear, accessible manner. It is going to cover a broad range of issues, from “hard” topics that are quite defined—like, what is Floor Space Ratio?—to ‘softer’ subjects that are less clear-cut, but equally important, such as affordability.”