NEW AND NOTEWORTHY

(April 2024)

Click here to view a complete listing of all new acquisitions in the MUNISCOPE catalogue

Human transit: How clearer thinking about public transit can enrich our communities and our lives

/ Walker, Jarrett. — Revised edition. — Washington, DC : Island Press, 2024.

1 online resource : illustrations, maps, EPUB.

The book explores the purpose of transit, the seven demands people have of transit, how transit meets these demands, and how transit provides access to opportunity. It then discusses planning for transit, covering planning for diversity, the logic of routes and stop placement, flexible transit services and on-demand transit, determining transit area coverage, frequency and speed of transit service, setting fare rates and structures and related equity concerns, design of connections, transit on the boulevard and exclusive rights of way, and dedicated lanes. The examples cited in the book are primarily from the United States and Australia, but include Vancouver, BC.

Solved: How the world's great cities are fixing the climate crisis

/ Miller, David. — Updated paperback edition. — Toronto : Aevo UTP, 2024.

1 online resource (xxiv, 246 pages) : illustrations (chiefly colour), graphs, PDF.

The book highlights innovative approaches to reducing GHG emissions and holding average temperature escalation to within 1.5°C annually from cities around the world, including Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver. Chapters explore actions that focus on planning; energy and electricity policy (e.g., district heating, distributed energy, renewable energy sources and cold lake cooling); reducing the carbon footprint of existing and new buildings (e.g., disclosure of building performance benchmarks, urban cap and trade, improving energy efficiency, building standards, passive design and net-zero buildings); public transportation (i.e., rail and bus rapid transit); policy for personal transportation (i.e., congestion charging, active transportation zones and electric vehicle adoption); and waste management and reduction. The final chapter discusses five progressing city-focused actions to address climate change: (1) ending the reliance on natural gas, (2) climate budgeting, (3) actions by large cities driving change elsewhere, (4) designing cities around people instead of cars, and (5) changing the economic model.

Toward sustainable communities: Solutions for citizens and their governments

1 online resource (xxii, 377 pages) : illustrations, plans, PDF.

The book discusses the need to address sustainability; policy-making processes and planning by local governments for sustainable community development; the Community Capital Compass model; the forms of capital that contribute to environmental, economic and social sustainability and local strategies to increase their sustainability; operationalizing the Community Capital Compass approach for guiding sustainable community development projects involving public and private actors; and evaluating the community development process with community capital stock indicators and benchmarking.

Urban agriculture in public space: Planning and designing for human flourishing in Northern European cities and beyond

/ Sirowy, Beata & Ruggeri, Deni. (Eds.). — Cham : Springer, 2024.

1 online resource (xxiv, 317 pages) : illustrations (chiefly colour), colour maps, PDF. — (GeoJournal library ; v. 132).

The book grew out of the "Cultivating Public Space: Urban Agriculture as a Basis for Human Flourishing and Sustainability Transition in Norwegian Cities" research project (2017–2022). It explores the conceptual foundations of urban agriculture; case studies of public urban agriculture projects in Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands; educational experiences involving urban agriculture; development of an urban agriculture toolbox; motivations for urban agriculture policies and governance models in Norwegian cities; an agroecological approach to urban agriculture; and the lessons learned, limitations and future of urban agriculture in public space.