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The Urban Design Handbook: Techniques and Working Methods (2nd ed.), by
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DOI: 10.1080/01944363.2014.998135

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 Journal of the American Planning Association

ISSN: 0194-4363 (Print) 1939-0130 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjpa20

The Urban Design Handbook: Techniques and

Working Methods (2nd ed.), by Urban Design
Associates

Ann Forsyth

To cite this article: Ann Forsyth (2014) The Urban Design Handbook: Techniques and Working
Methods (2nd ed.), by Urban Design Associates, Journal of the American Planning Association,
80:4, 448-449, DOI: 10.1080/01944363.2014.998135

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 448 Reviews
Journal of the American Planning Association, Autumn 2014, Vol. 80, No. 4

The first half of the book includes foundational information and Urban Design
topics traditionally tackled by ocean conservationists. The first chapter
lays out the case for why we are dependent upon our oceans and how
urban areas are contributing to their demise. The second chapter Urban Design Associates. (2013). The Urban
focuses on ocean pollution (the causes and possible solutions), renew- Design Handbook: Techniques and Working
able energy sources, and the ongoing efforts by ports and the shipping Methods (2nd ed.). New York, NY: W. W.
industry to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly. In the Norton. 240 pp. $55.00 (paperback).
third chapter, Beatley tackles the problem of the globally dwindling
fisheries, and suggests specific ways in which cities can influence the
sustainable harvests and management of these fisheries.
The second half of the book focuses on topics that are common in
the planning field. Chapter 4 deals with urban design including water- Reviewed by Ann Forsyth, Harvard University
front redevelopment, how to work with building designs to augment
the urban connection with the water, building blue roofs, and even the
future of more floating elements in our cities. This particular chapter

N
ow in its second edition, this manual originated in the late
will be specifically appealing to those with stormwater and architectural
1990s as an internal training document for the Urban
interests. The fifth chapter deals with the development of a “blue ethic”
Design Associates (UDA) firm. Its origins are in part
(p. 103) and the creation of marine protected areas around and outside
shown by the large cast of characters who have produced the work,
of cities. Chapters 6 and 7 are full of examples of how to get citizens
with six main authors, 19 contributors, a foreword by the firm’s
engaged in and with the marine life around their homes. From art, to
founder, and an editor and contributing writer. This new edition
aquariums, to naturalist programs, to citizen science programs, to
comes a decade after its first publication in 2003.
restoration programs, to “Blue Star Homes and School” programs and
Programs in architecture and landscape architecture typically have
beyond, the examples are basic, yet diverse, exciting, and encouraging.
a professional practice class that introduces students broadly to how to
The strengths of Blue Urbanism are that it provides a plethora
run a firm (from how to manage an office to how to manage a firm’s
of information and many examples of how and where blue urbanism
public image). There is often little on the politics of implementation
is done well. Examples of particular waterfront redevelopment
and rather more on the politics of positioning a firm’s expertise and
projects in the Netherlands, the Oslo Opera House in Norway, blue
design approach in the context of other firms and professions. Perhaps
roofs in New York City, “bluebelts” from Staten Island (p. 90), the
because planners are headed for a wider range of organizational types
Beach Watchers program in Puget Sound, and the Kelp Project in
there is rarely such a class for them, but planners pick up project
Southern California are just a few that Beatley includes in the book.
planning in workshops or studios; organizational and political savvy in
Unfortunately, the root of these strengths is the base for its
classes on implementation and theory; and data gathering, analytical,
greatest weaknesses: There are few details provided, and almost all
and communication skills in a variety of locations.
the examples seem like solutions that might make a difference in one
Urban design typically draws on staff from all these fields; one can
city, but may not make a large impact globally. While engaging and
see why a firm would need to get people on the same page in terms of
exciting, very few of the cases appear to offer substantive solutions
urban design principles, process, and implementation tools (all
that contribute to solving our global oceanic challenges. Then again,
prominent parts of the table of contents). For UDA, the principles are
isn’t that what we have learned about life, and planning? It really is
broadly new urbanist in flavor with an emphasis on public engagement.
about the multitude of small successes that lead to large changes.
This in part reflects the firm’s origins in the 1960s, funded by a branch
Overall, Blue Urbanism provides a wonderful introduction to
of the Ford Foundation called the Education Facilities Lab, which was
the foundational issues of the marine and ocean environments. The
interested in citizen participation in school design. This was quickly
book describes how urban communities are contributing to those
expanded to larger urban design issues, along with architecture.
foundational issues and it lays out what we can do via the planning,
The second edition adds 32 pages to the earlier one, so presumably
policy, and design of cities to stop exploiting these resources.
there is new as well as updated matter. I think that at its base the book
maintains the strengths of the earlier edition.
The Urban Design Handbook covers a lot of ground from parking
References
and building types to design concepts to implementation tools. The
Beatley, T. (1999). Green urbanism: Learning from European cities.
book does this from a particular approach: The authors spend a lot of
Washington, DC: Island.
time on building types, urban patterns, and form-based codes. But
Beatley, T. (2009). Planning for coastal resilience: Best practices for
certainly a new planner could use it as a reasonable checklist of
calamitous times. Washington, DC: Island.
physical planning and urban design issues that need to be considered
no matter what their style. The volume also gives an inside view of
Karen Bareford is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Urban how a firm operates in an interdisciplinary and participatory context.
& Regional Planning at Florida State University, where she is This includes how it organizes itself internally, relates to clients,
researching the role of coastal and marine spatial plans in promoting collaborates with professionals outside the firm, and conducts
the health of the world’s oceans. Prior to returning to graduate participation activities. It outlines a larger process of understanding
school, Bareford worked on coastal and marine policy for the Florida the place, exploring options, developing a plan, and then working on
Department of Environmental Protection. implementation approaches. Perhaps because of its origins in

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 Reviews 449
Journal of the American Planning Association, Autumn 2014, Vol. 80, No. 4

participatory approaches, the firm’s graphic style tends to be clear and collection of essays demonstrates how debates can devolve into battles
unfussy. The authors provide a number of useful examples, and the over ego, and also how they can lead to valuable scholarly discourse.
book can be used as a picture book. Last, the writing style is also very Edited by influential new urbanist proponents Andres Duany and
clear. The chapter on implementation tools covers much useful Emily Talen, the book is an attack on the body of scholarship and
ground in terms of how to convey information to various portfolios of the landscape architects and scholars associated with land-
constituencies through reports, pattern books, and other documents. scape urbanism. The intent is to wrest back the hearts and minds of
There are a lot of planning manuals and handbooks in print at practitioners, policymakers, and students who, according to the editors,
present. The Urban Design Handbook is clearly about urban design could be misled by a group that has “taken over the sustainable city
and not planning more broadly, but its participatory and humanistic discourse—in the academy, in competitions, and as a main pre-
approach makes it more accessible to planners than a similar work occupation of the high design establishment” (p. xii). In the book,
coming out of the “big architecture” version of urban design. The landscape urbanists are described as Ivy League elitists who refuse to
volume provides a very clear view about how a private-sector firm concern themselves with compact urban form and focus instead on
can produce a plan: how it organizes itself and other constituencies, natural processes, hydrology, critical Marxist discourse, and the produc-
designs the process, and communicates the results. There is enough tion of flashy Photoshop illustrations. They are called out for “seeking
in common with public and nonprofit organizations, however, to high-profile commissions made possible by neoliberal politics” (p. 106).
make it useful for those groups as they chart out how to do projects. Even the dedication to the book is a jab at those who would mistakenly
For forms of practice beyond urban design, more or different issues embrace bioswales, green roofs, prairie grasses, or natural resource protec-
would need to be considered, but the basic steps would be similar. tion in the wrong transect zone: “To Jane Jacobs and Rachel Carson,
Would I use The Urban Design Handbook? The simple answer is neither of whom ever confused the urban with the natural” (p. vii).
yes. I used the last manual to demonstrate accessible graphics and Whether one finds value in reading the book will ultimately
clear report organization, and this book retains those strengths. The depend on one’s attitude toward new urbanism and tolerance for
book’s straightforward description of workflow—people, process, posturing and polemic. Some of the essays are quite entertaining, if one
and products—also makes it helpful in studios. Most usefully, The is able to forgive the inaccuracies and personal attacks that mar it. For
Urban Design Handbook raises a larger question about how planners instance, Duany presents a section of colorful illustrations by a variety of
might better teach professional practice in a more integrated way landscape architecture firms to which he adds vitriolic captions. At the
given the diversity of what we do. end of one caption for a rain garden at a school, he adds the text
“(Demolished and replaced by playing field ca. 2022)” (p. c-4). In
Ann Forsyth is a professor of urban planning at Harvard University. another example of a quickly devolving critique, James Howard
She directed the Metropolitan Design Center at the University of Kunstler declares landscape urbanists “mandarins in elite architecture
Minnesota from 2002 to 2007 and codirected the Urban Places schools,” or “zombies” that are threatening to “eat America’s brains”
Project at the University of Massachusetts from 1993 to 1999. (p. 128). Furthermore, he takes offense to such “intellectual fashions” as
post-structuralism and the “ideological politics of the day, namely the
struggles of females, racial identity groups, and homosexuals against the
Andrés Duany and Emily Talen (Eds). (2013). age-old domination of hetero Caucasian males” (p. 129). Apparently, in
Landscape Urbanism and Its Discontents: its concern for a veritable “wilderness of Theory,” planning in general,
Dissimulating the Sustainable City. Gabriola and landscape urbanism in particular, has lost its way (p. 129).
Island, BC, Canada: New Society. 315 pages. The rift between these two urbanisms seems manufactured by
$29.95 (paperback). proponents of new urbanism to dramatize a largely nonexistent
debate. There are very few references to new urbanism in the Land-
scape Urbanism Reader (2006). As Duany and Talen’s book contains a
chapter titled “Transcript of a Debate ca. 2011,” one might assume
that this represents an actual debate between proponents of the two
design movements. This chapter is actually an edited debate between
Reviewed by Jennifer Minner, Cornell University new urbanists about the extent to which they accept the High Line in
New York City as being in any way successful. It does not appear to
contain the voices of any landscape urbanists. In fact, the lack of
engagement in debate frustrates Douglas Kelbaugh, who had a hand

I
n just a few decades new urbanism has steadily moved to the in publishing previous debates on new urbanism and another dueling
mainstream, and many planning practitioners and decision- paradigm (Kelbaugh, 2005). Kelbaugh writes that landscape urbanists’
makers embrace its tenets as common sense. Other design “relative silence could be interpreted as arrogant and close-minded or
movements have also emerged, such as everyday urbanism, post- as an expression of denial or jealousy, or as a dismissal of NU [new
urbanism, tactical urbanism, and sustainable urbanism: Some directly urbanism] as either not in their best interest to acknowledge and lend
challenge new urbanism, while others simply organize around con- legitimacy to, or unworthy to be a sparring partner” (p. 85).
trasting—or even complementary—principles. Landscape urbanism From this set of essays, one gets a relatively clear picture of why
(Waldheim, 2006) is one of these movements, and it is the subject of new urbanists feel threatened and what they feel is of value within
new urbanists’ analysis and ire in a recent book called Landscape landscape urbanism. Among the essays are proposals for “consum-
Urbanism and Its Discontents: Dissimulating the Sustainable City. This ing” the best of landscape urbanism (p. 183) and then presumably

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