Customer Reviews

Green Urbanism: Learning From European Cities

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Timothy Beateley did an excellent job describing European cities and their sustainability policies. Overall it is a solid, technical approach with detailed information about policy, institutions, research. But somehow he does not succeed in convincing me about appropriate tactics to enhance sustainability in cities. He just offers extensive, I must say, rather optimistic appraisals of European cities and their policies. Yes, European cities do have advantages compared with the avarage American city. A medium sized European city mostly has a compact urban form and does nut suffer from extensive urban sprawl. But Beatley fails to distinguish between good intentions and results in urban planning. I fear that mostly his descriptions are based on rather biased information, including mine, on the possibilities and realities of European planning. He bases his analysis on the charters with good intentions, policy documents and congresses. He seems to oversee the fact that even European cities do not succeed in reducing the ecological footprint. I would rather divert the attention towards the conceptions of the real possessors of power, the builders, the industrial entrepreneurs, the image makers. The selling of sustainability seems to me the most challenging issue. Policy makers have temporarily lost their interest and are not able to implement their well intended policies.

Luuk Oost

As a college student with a focus on planning and green design I found Timothy Beatley's book inspiring. So inspiring in fact that I am travelling to Europe this fall in search of solutions to urban issues of sustainability which can be used in the states. I agree with the reviewer who said that there are large differences in structure, funding and politics in Northern Europe but I strongly disagree with his dismissive assertion that those solutions are irrelevant or impossible in the United States. What exists is possible. Livable, walkable, sustainable cities are important for people everywhere and we should look for ideas anywhere we can get them.
As for Beatley's "slanted" case studies, he includes at the end of each chapter examples of similar initiatives and programs in American cities. Personally I don't think the author is scolding American cities for not being progressive so much as offering examples of what is possible. Are we capable of "Learning From European Cities?" Absolutely. Can they be adapted to the realities of American cities? Of course.

Beatley shows there is much to learn from the Europeans when it come to the ecological and environmental city planning. Although it would be hard to implement European planning practices on American soil, it brings a new, and beneficial perspective that many can use towards an incremental change.