The Shape of the Future: (Vol. I) The Critical, Overarching Impact of Human Settlement Pattern on Citizens' Economic, Social and Environmental Well-being, ... in 21st Century New Urban Regions. [CD-ROM]

E. M Risse (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2000

This is a CD Rom version of a book already offered by Amazon.com. The CD Rom includes a PDF file with the entire book and a brief introduction to the third printing. This book has been sold by Amazon.com since Septermber 2000.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a book unusual in so many ways, not the least of which is that it actually lives up to its title..." -- Tony Hiss, author of The Experience of Place

From the Back Cover

"The Shape of the Future discusses the impact of human settlement patterns on economic prosperity, social stability, and environmental sustainability. The core of this book is six interrelated strategies citizens can apply to improve the distribution and impact of human activities."
-- I. Michael Heyman, former Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

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Product Details

• CD-ROM: 784 pages
• Publisher: SYNERGY/Planning (January 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967810809
• ISBN-13: 978-0967810805
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 4.8 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,537,808 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

For a complete perspective on the work of E M Risse please visit www.emrisse.com

E M Risse has spent a major part of the last two decades researching and writing his two major books: The Shape of the Future and TRILO-G. These books provide citizens with the information Risse believes is necessary to evolve functional human settlement patterns and achieve a sustainable trajectory for civilization.

Risse's life-long quest has been to understand - and help others understand - the economic, social and physical ramifications of human settlement patterns. The author's objective is to find ways to help citizens understand why supporting the evolution of functional and sustainable human settlement patterns is:

In citizens individual and Household enlightened self-interest AND

In citizens common (aka, collective, public and community)enlightened
self-interest.

Once individual and common enlightened self-interest is understood, citizens can establish democratic processes to implement well-considered public judgements in the economic, social and physical spheres of human existence.

Risse's education includes studies in science (forestry, physics and mathematics) and in philosophy, architecture and law. After graduating from law school, he had successful professional careers in Urban and Regional Planning, Land-Use Controls, Historic Preservation, Planning and Design Education, Planned New Community Development and Large-Scale Land Conservation. With this background, starting in 1988, Risse focused on SubRegional and Regional strategies and on the articulation of a unified field theory of human settlement - also termed "the science of human settlement patterns."

The author's career path has not been a conventional one. Each time Risse achieved the stature that resulted in being asked to be a plenary speaker at a national conference in one field, his focus shifted to another field. These moves meant that Risse benefitted from few mentors and attracted few acolytes. It also means that there are few with comparable life experiences, education and employment equipped to knowledgeably critique his essays, columns, reports and books.

In recent years, conservation advocates have viewed him as the strategist for successful large-scale developers - which he has been. Those in building and development Enterprises (as well as those in transport Agencies and advocates of Business-As-Usual Mobility and Access 'solutions') have seen him as an environmentalist obstructing their path to least-common-denominator 'solutions' that maximize short-term and unearned profits - which is also correct.

Those who identify themselves as being at the liberal end of the ideological spectrum see him as a champion of free markets - which he is. Those who identify themselves as being at the conservative end of the ideological spectrum accuse him of advocating socialist wealth redistribution - which he does not.

Those with a libertarian bent believe his advocacy of the three Fundamental Transformations spelled out in TRILO-G - settlement patterns, governance structure and economic systems - is an endorsement of command and control governance strategies - it is not. Some have thought he was attempting to erode individual liberty and freedom - also not true. Others think of him as a free-spirited anarchist overly influenced by his graduate work and experiences at the University of California in the mid-60s - also not correct.

Dr. Risse believes that on a finite planet, the rational and equitable allocation of resources serves the long-term interest of those at the top of the Ziggurat even more than those at the bottom.

Risse has found that the economic, social and physical environment which humans have constructed has become too complex to be intelligently viewed from only one perspective. His moves from field to field and venue to venue have provided the author with the ability to see economic, social and physical activity from many perspectives.

Dr. Risse is keenly aware that he stands on the shoulders of many who came before including those who he often quotes - Aristotle, Niccolo Machiavelli, Benton MacKaye, Lewis Mumford, Walter Christaller, Jane Jacobs, Constantine Doxiadis, E. F. Schumacher, Christopher Alexander, Eric Hoffer, Amitai Etzioni, Wilfred Owen, Jared Diamond, E. O. Wilson, Malcolm Gladwell, Robert Reich, David Owen and many others. They did not come from one field; they were philosophers, political operatives, regional conservationists, historians, economists, urbanists, architects, longshoremen, sociologists, economists, political scientists, anthropologists, biologists and story tellers. His writing cites the supporting perspectives of over 200 authors and scholars.

In order to pursue his varied interests, E M Risse founded and serves as the principal of SYNERGY/Planning in 1987. SYNERGY/Planning is a think tank, a for-profit Enterprise which specializes in planning and implementing sustainable human settlement patterns, especially ones that optimize land-use and transport relationships. Risse is a founder of 1000 Friends of Virginia's Future, an Institution with a broad educational mission outlined in PART TWELVE of TRILO-G - FOUNDATIONS, BRIDGES, ACTION: Making the World a Better Place One Alpha Community at a Time.

E M Risse spent much of his professional career planning, designing, delivering and managing the governance of Urban enclaves at Community-, Village-, Neighborhood- and Cluster-scales. The market has demonstrated that these are places which citizens want to live, work, seek services and participate in leisure activities. Projects in the Washington-Baltimore New Urban Region for which he has provided services have resulted in the construction of $2.5-billion in facilities and $1.5-billion in infrastructure (2006 dollars). There are well over 50,000 residents and 20,000 workers occupying over 75-million square feet of building space in the components of human settlement upon which he has provided professional services in the Region.

Nationally, Risse has planned 36 Community-scale and Village-scale projects in 13 states which upon build out will provide Jobs / Housing / Services / Recreation / Amenity for over 600,000 citizens on about 150,000 acres of land. Risse has experience in creating a wide spectrum of plans and converting them to reality in the United States, Europe and the Caribbean. These projects are profiled in PART FIFTEEN of TRILO-G.

Risse has participated in strategic and tactical planning for the development and conservation of major land parcels and for transportation facilities to serve these holdings. He is also the designer of community governance structures and multi-level land-use control systems including the one that now protects the six-million acre Adirondack Park in New York State.

Prof. Risse is the author of more than 200 studies, articles, essays, reports and handbooks as well as 131 columns in addition to his two major books on human settlement patterns. These resources are profiled in PART FIFTEEN of TRILO-G.

Dr. Risse developed the science-based unified field theory of human settlement which he articulated in The Shape of the Future: (Vol I) The Critical, Overarching Impact of Human Settlement Pattern on Citizens' Economic, Social and Environmental Well-Being, (Vol II) Prospering in 21st Century New Urban Regions published in 2000.

Risse's second book is TRILO-G - FOUNDATIONS, BRIDGES, ACTIONS: How to make the World a Better Place One Alpha Community at a time was published in 2010. LINER NOTES for both books an be accessed at www.emrisse.com/publicaitons.

E M Risse is the designer of Regional Metrics. He is also the architect of The Third Way. The use of these tools will help citizens achieve a sustainable trajectory for society as it transitions from Business-As-Usual and at the same time avoids the rise of totalitarian dictatorships and / or Collapse.

Prof. Risse's graduate-level teaching experience over the last 45 years includes comprehensive planning, transportation strategies, land development, planning law, land-use controls, history of urban settlement, process of Urban change and planning for Regional sustainability. He has held faculty positions in the University of Virginia's graduate planning program, George Mason Law School and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's School of Architecture. He with his wife have taught graduate-level courses on the New Urban Region® at several universities.

Dr. Risse holds a BA in Mathematics from the University of Montana and JD and LLB degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. He is married to Linda Terry Risse and resides in an Urban dwelling inside the Clear Edge around Greater Warrenton in the Virginia Piedmont.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book, January 2, 2001

By 

Robert Burke (Fredericksburg, Va USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Shape of the Future: (Vol. I) The Critical, Overarching Impact of Human Settlement Pattern on Citizens' Economic, Social and Environmental Well-being, ... in 21st Century New Urban Regions. (CD-ROM)

The Shape of the Future is potentially the most ambitious book you'll ever read and one that will change the way you look at almost everything - transportation, politics, development, housing, societal relationships and more. Among the book's goals as outlined by author E M Risse is to 'Lay the groundwork for the development of a unified field theory of economic, social and physical human activity.' He's produced a stunning package of ideas, and in presenting his arguments for how our communities should be organized he debunks many of the common assumptions we hold about ourselves and our communities. This is an extremely well-researched book as well, quoting from (and often disagreeing with) experts such as James Howard Kuntsler, Joel Garreau and others. Risse draws from nearly every academic area - you'll find references to the works of Orwell, Freud and Machiavelli in here too. Read it to find out why they belong. This is a remarkable book and an essential resource for anyone wanting to join the debate.