 |   Author : Randolph T. Hester Edition : 1 Number of Pages : 480 Publisher : The MIT Press List Price: Our Price: $28.24 You Save: $14.71 (35%) Used Price : $33.33 |
Product Description
Winner, 2007 Davidoff Award presented by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP), Winner, Scholarly Illustrated Category, 2007 AAUP Book Jacket and Journal Show. and Winner of the Architecture & Urban Planning category in the 2006 Professional/Scholarly Publishing Annual Awards Competition presented by the Association of American Publishers, Inc.Over the last fifty years, the process of community building has been lost in the process of city building. City and suburban design divides us from others in our communities, destroys natural habitats, and fails to provide a joyful context for our lives. In Design for Ecological Democracy, Randolph Hester proposes a remedy for our urban anomie. He outlines new principles for urban design that will allow us to forge connections with our fellow citizens and our natural environment. He demonstrates these principles with abundantly illustrated examples—drawn from forty years of design and planning practice—showing how we can design cities that are ecologically resilient, that enhance community, and that give us pleasure.
Hester argues that it is only by combining the powerful forces of ecology and democracy that the needed revolution in design will take place. Democracy bestows freedom; ecology creates responsible freedom by explaining our interconnectedness with all creatures. Hester's new design principles are founded on three fundamental issues that integrate democracy and ecology: enabling form, resilient form, and impelling form. Urban design must enable us to be communities rather than zoning-segregated enclaves and to function as informed democracies. A simple bench at a centrally located post office, for example, provides an opportunity for connection and shared experience. Cities must be ecologically resilient rather than ecologically imperiled, adaptable to the surrounding ecology rather than dependent on technological fixes. Resilient form turns increased urban density, for example, into an advantage. And cities should impel us by joy rather than compel us by fear; good cities enrich us rather than limit us. Design for Ecological Democracy is essential reading for designers, planners, environmentalists, community activists, and anyone else who wants to improve a local community.
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Customer reviews
Much Food for Thought 
by .. Tom King (Silver Spring, Maryland, USA)
It's great to have many of Hester's ideas in one place for easy reference. My main experience with his work has involved the notion of "sacred space," and it's good to have his clear exposition of that concept, but there's so very much more here. I'm nowhere near through it, just dipping into it from time to time, but gaining a great deal of enlightenment and insight from it.
a brilliant work by .. Matt ()
I had the great fortune of stumbling on this book. I just received it a few days ago and am in pure awe of all of the information in this book. Hester has really done something special here and it is not to be missed by anyone. And I mean anyone and everyone could benefit and enjoy this book: educators, planners, people who make policy decisions, scientists, philosophers, engineers, people in any field related to human health, designers, community activists, mothers, fathers, students, and any citizen of a democracy (or an aspiring democracy) in the 21st century. The best part about this book is that it also functions like an encyclopedia of sorts in that you can just turn to a page, start reading, and learn a lot. Given that I am not in the field of design, all of the concepts at first seemed overwhelming. However, Hester does a remarkable job of tying everything together with an inspiring vision. This is one of the most important books I have encountered in some time.
Great reading 
by .. Osei K. Agyeman (Moscow, Idaho)
Great book to read for those interested in ecological and green design solutions for architects, urban designers, community planners, and landscape architects.