List of reading material

1. SMART URBANISM Clone Towns Report by New Economics
Foundation (2004): The state of our high
BIBLIOGRAPHY streets.
Red Tory by Philip Blond (2008): Good rant on the
The first thing that surprised me was how little failure of centralism but be careful.
original thinking has taken place in the sphere of
A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain by
urbanism in recent years but how much we can
Owen Hatherly (2010): Our Pevsner for the 21st
draw from other sources in other fields of
century.
endeavour. The old theorists are still the best
ones and are probably more relevant today than Adaptable Buildings by Alex Lipshutz (2007):
ever, so I have drawn extensively on their great Article in Adaptable Architecture
work which still challenges us to think differently.
The Web makes it easy to find all of the books, The Manual for Streets 2 (2010): Getting there but
journals and articles I refer to in this book so, still not enough.
taking a clue from John Maeda’s book ‘The Laws
of Simplicity’ (2006), I have avoided the practice The Regeneration Crisis by Steve Tolson (2008):
of a bibliographic entry for each item. Rather, I list Really good paper that spells out the costs of
these below as valuable source material and procurement
inspiration:
Death of Common Sense by Philip Howard
THEOREM (1995): The truths behind unintended
consequences.
Re:Urbanism by Kelvin Campbell and Rob Cowan
(2002): The book that kicked this all off and still THINKING
rings true.
Emergence, The Connected lives of Ants, Brains
Motivation and Personality by Abraham Maslow and Cities by Steven Johnson (2001): Great
(1970): What really motivates us. insight into self organising systems. Probably
the best on emergent urbanism.
Technics and Civilisation by Lewis Mumford
(1963): Words ahead of the time. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (2002):
When does the paradigm shift.
Life and Death in American Cities by Jane Jacobs
(1961): The old lady knew more than we The Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda (2006):
realised Keeping it simple
New Theory of Urban Design by Christopher Disabling Professions by Ivan Illich (1978):
Alexander (1987): Still a benchmark for thinking Reminds us why we need to change.
about urban design
Notes on the Synthesis of Form by Christopher
The Long Tail by Chris Anderson (2006); The Alexander (1964): Ideas on generative methods
editor of Wired magazine with his finger on the in architecture.
button
The Dictionary of Urbanism by Rob Cowan
The New Economy by Kevin Kelly (2007): On the (2005): Where you can always find insight and
power of social networks. humour.
Total Politics by Greg Clark (2003): A critique of Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki (2004):
centralised government. the power of the group.
The Politics of Universal Compassion by Joel Conceptualizing The Principles of Emergent
Federman (2002): On cynicism and optimism in Urbanism by Mathieu Hélie (2009): Flying the
modern life. banner for emergence.
Small is Beautiful by EF Schumacher (1973): A The Emergence Of Cities: Complexity And Urban
study of economics as if people mattered Dynamics by Michael Batty (2003): The
mechanics of emergence
BROKEN
What is Complexity Science, really? By Steven
Plandemonium by Rob Cowan (2010): Brilliant Phelan (2004): Getting back to the real science.
insight into the failure of modern planning

2. Emergence: From Chaos to Order by John Anatomy of the Village by Tom Sharp (1946): The
Holland (1998): Cities as patterns in time. tradition of Scottish town-making.
Smart Swarm by Peter Miller (2010): How we can Condition 4. Standard Defaults
learn from nature. Diffusion of Innovation by Everett Rogers (1997):
How to change a market.
The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz (2005):
Why less choice is more. What Home Buyers Want by CABE (2007): Stated
preferences from housing market
Nudge by Cass Sunstein and economist Richard
Thaler (2008): How to structure complex Housing Audit by CABE (2006): The state of
choices housing design in the UK.
Whatever Happened to Urbanism by Rem Towards a New Vernacular by Mark Parsons
Koolhaas (1995): Pure reductionism (1998): A good trot through the preconditions
for delivering better housing.
Town and Town-making Principles by Andres
Duany (2000): Setting out the stall for a new An Introduction to Housing Layout by the Greater
urbanism. London Council (1972): The last seen pattern
book in London
Generative methods in Urban Design by Michael
Mehaffy (2003): Christopher Alexander versus Housey Housey by Pierre d’Avoine (2005):
the New Urbanists. Making the case for a return to pattern book
housing.
FIX
Supports: An Alternative to Mass Housing by
Condition 1. Simple Rules John Habraken (1972): Open building at
General Urban Rules by Alex Lehnerer (2009): A different levels.
valuable sourcebook for method rules as tools
in urban design. Design Codes by Carmona and Dann (2007): The
pros and cons.
Urban Renaissance Towns by Alan Simpson
(2007): Charters as collaborative tools. The Future of Residential Development’ by Knight
Frank (2009): State of the housing market in the
Public Protocol by Urban Initiatives (2010): A UK.
neighbourhood planning toolkit.
The Housebuilding Industry: Promoting Recovery
Condition 2. Intelligent Networks in Housing Supply by University of Reading for
A City is not a Tree by Christopher Alexander the Department of Local Government and
(1979): Thinking in semi-lattices. Communities (2009): Points to the need for
diversification
Streetgrids as Frameworks for Urban Variety by
Paul Groth (1976): Making a case for grids Condition 5. Trigger the Catalysts
Urban Catalyst by Klaus Overmeyer (2009): Using
Structuring a Generative Model for Urban Design urban pioneers to as an alternative
by Beirão and Duarte (2007): Using computers development model.
to generate urban fabric.
Delivering Better Places by the Scottish
Space is the Machine by Bill Hillier (1999): From Government (2010): A sourcebook for planning,
science to application. design and delivery models.
Condition 3. Emergent Fields Building Social Capital by Indy Johar (2005):
Making of the Modern Street by Group 91 (1999): Making better neighbourhoods.
How to subdivide for urban grain.
Start with the Park by Urban Initiatives for CABE
Housing Design Guide by Design for London and (2006): Showing the catalytic effect of green
Urban Initiatives Team (2010): Calling for the spaces.
new Georgian.
The Future is Local by the Sustainable
Cityplan as Resource by Jonathan Smyth (1989): development Commission (2010): Effective
Plotting the change in Savannah over the scales for infrastructure delivery.
years.