Good Books, Good Speakers

Planetizen, the indispensable online source for planners, has just released its annual list of the ten best books in the planning field.  A surprising number have a direct link to Vancouver and the SFU City Program.

First of all, congratulations to Patrick Condon, our UBC colleague, for Design Charrettes for Sustainable Communities:

 

“a straightforward guide that lays out the essential steps and best practices for running a productive design charrette” – featuring Metro Vancouver!

Next up: Doug Farr’s Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design With Nature.

“Case studies and essays written by Farr and others give a real-world context to the ideas and methods espoused in this ambitious argument on behalf of a new type urban design and development that is interrelated with nature. “

Doug will be the featured speaker at another Century Group-sponsored lecture on March 11.  Details to come.

Chris Leinberger is the speaker for the third “Shifting Gears” lecture on April 25, sponsored by by the Bombardier Foundation and the Active Transport Lab at the University of British Columbia.  Chris is author of:

The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream

“Leinberger call this walkable urbanism, and he uses history and economic analysis to show how market preference is shifting back towards this development pattern and away from the drivable suburbanism that monopolized the last 60 years. “

More on Chris and his analysis in Price Tags 99.