Transportation book equivalent of "Fixer Upper" by Jenny Schuetz
August 7, 2024 8:49 PM
A neighborhood council colleague is asking for books on transportation that are accessible, solution-oriented and systematic in scope. I know him through housing policy work; in that area, Jenny Schuetz's "Fixer Upper" is the perfect book for people who want to get caught up without getting into the weeds.
What's that book for transportation?
He's been a housing advocate for years, but recently joined the transportation and mobility committee I co-chair. But we have different styles of preferred learning, and I've been struggling to find something that hits his sweet spot for tackling a new topic. I tend to have access to academic sources, and also am a pretty adept Googler. He's a bit older, and really prefers the Authoritative Tome approach.
Already suggested:
The High Cost of Free Parking by Donald Schoup
There Are No Accidents by Jessie Singer
He's been a housing advocate for years, but recently joined the transportation and mobility committee I co-chair. But we have different styles of preferred learning, and I've been struggling to find something that hits his sweet spot for tackling a new topic. I tend to have access to academic sources, and also am a pretty adept Googler. He's a bit older, and really prefers the Authoritative Tome approach.
Already suggested:
The High Cost of Free Parking by Donald Schoup
There Are No Accidents by Jessie Singer
Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns is a pretty good option. It may match the "authoritative tone" requirement pretty well.
Another good possibility: Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution
posted by flug at 10:05 PM on August 7
Another good possibility: Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution
posted by flug at 10:05 PM on August 7
Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town by Charles L. Marohn Jr. might be interesting.
posted by kiblinger at 11:42 PM on August 7
posted by kiblinger at 11:42 PM on August 7
Human Transit by Jarrett Walker, for thinking about designing mobility networks.
posted by straw at 6:44 AM on August 8
posted by straw at 6:44 AM on August 8
This is on my holds list after my city's traffic safety engineer recommended it: Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet, by Ben Goldfarb.
posted by The corpse in the library at 6:59 AM on August 8
posted by The corpse in the library at 6:59 AM on August 8
Jeff Speck: walkable city rules
Nolan Grey: Arbitrary Lines
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:24 AM on August 8
Nolan Grey: Arbitrary Lines
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:24 AM on August 8
I’m going to second Speck’s walkable city rules because it’s organized as a list of discrete actions and what it takes to implement them with research backing the recommendations up. Very actionable for someone with power!
posted by congen at 12:07 PM on August 8
posted by congen at 12:07 PM on August 8
"Paved Paradise" by Henry Grabar is a more up-to-date and accessible alternative to "The High Cost of Free Parking" (which it summarizes, among other things). The focus is on parking in particular, but if you're in the US then all roads lead to parking (ha!), so it's a good place to start.
+1 for Human Transit, with a similar caveat: the scope is narrower than "transportation". You can read the greatest hits from his blog to get an idea of his interests/approach.
posted by caek at 10:30 AM on August 9
+1 for Human Transit, with a similar caveat: the scope is narrower than "transportation". You can read the greatest hits from his blog to get an idea of his interests/approach.
posted by caek at 10:30 AM on August 9
Try and find Designing Disorder: Experiments & Disruptions in the City [Verso Books]by Pablo Sendra & Richard Sennett, the viewpoint is from an activist Town Planner in the UK (but a global view), a small book I refer to often.
Designing a Place Called Home: Reordering the Suburbs [Verso Books]. American focus, looks at where we are and has many cases of better design by James Wentling>. Is more building (house) oriented that streets but also has a lot of built street innovation and codes.
Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs [Wiley link], Updated Edition 2011.
I do find value in Walkable City Rules, but the mere fact of 'Rules' in the title tends to weight the book toward less flexible approaches, although it largely avoid The New Urbanism.
There's a lot of astro-tuirfing going on at the moment in planning circles with the malign activities of the Heritage Foundation and it's affiliates so your friend witll probably know to avoid operations like Civitas: Institute for the Study of Civil Society
posted by unearthed at 4:10 PM on August 10
Designing a Place Called Home: Reordering the Suburbs [Verso Books]. American focus, looks at where we are and has many cases of better design by James Wentling>. Is more building (house) oriented that streets but also has a lot of built street innovation and codes.
Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs [Wiley link], Updated Edition 2011.
I do find value in Walkable City Rules, but the mere fact of 'Rules' in the title tends to weight the book toward less flexible approaches, although it largely avoid The New Urbanism.
There's a lot of astro-tuirfing going on at the moment in planning circles with the malign activities of the Heritage Foundation and it's affiliates so your friend witll probably know to avoid operations like Civitas: Institute for the Study of Civil Society
posted by unearthed at 4:10 PM on August 10
Slowly marking best answers as I read through them and recommend them.
posted by klangklangston at 5:47 PM on September 21
posted by klangklangston at 5:47 PM on September 21
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Inclusive Transportation
They should read Justice and the Interstates.
And while it's not necessarily "solutions oriented" The Big Dig podcast has so much to teach people about what it takes to get infrastructure projects done.
posted by brookeb at 9:04 PM on August 7