Confessions of a Recovering Engineer

Confessions of a Recovering Engineer PDF Author: Charles L. Marohn, Jr.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119699258
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Discover insider secrets of how America’s transportation system is designed, funded, and built – and how to make it work for your community In Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town, renowned speaker and author of Strong Towns Charles L. Marohn Jr. delivers an accessible and engaging exploration of America’s transportation system, laying bare the reasons why it no longer works as it once did, and how to modernize transportation to better serve local communities. You’ll discover real-world examples of poor design choices and how those choices have dramatic and tragic effects on the lives of the people who use them. You’ll also find case studies and examples of design improvements that have revitalized communities and improved safety. This important book shows you: The values of the transportation professions, how they are applied in the design process, and how those priorities differ from those of the public. How the standard approach to transportation ensures the maximum amount of traffic congestion possible is created each day, and how to fight that congestion on a budget. Bottom-up techniques for spending less and getting higher returns on transportation projects, all while improving quality of life for residents. Perfect for anyone interested in why transportation systems work – and fail to work – the way they do, Confessions of a Recovering Engineer is a fascinating insider’s peek behind the scenes of America’s transportation systems.

Confessions of a Recovering Engineer

Confessions of a Recovering Engineer PDF Author: Charles L. Marohn, Jr.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119699258
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Get Book

Book Description
Discover insider secrets of how America’s transportation system is designed, funded, and built – and how to make it work for your community In Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town, renowned speaker and author of Strong Towns Charles L. Marohn Jr. delivers an accessible and engaging exploration of America’s transportation system, laying bare the reasons why it no longer works as it once did, and how to modernize transportation to better serve local communities. You’ll discover real-world examples of poor design choices and how those choices have dramatic and tragic effects on the lives of the people who use them. You’ll also find case studies and examples of design improvements that have revitalized communities and improved safety. This important book shows you: The values of the transportation professions, how they are applied in the design process, and how those priorities differ from those of the public. How the standard approach to transportation ensures the maximum amount of traffic congestion possible is created each day, and how to fight that congestion on a budget. Bottom-up techniques for spending less and getting higher returns on transportation projects, all while improving quality of life for residents. Perfect for anyone interested in why transportation systems work – and fail to work – the way they do, Confessions of a Recovering Engineer is a fascinating insider’s peek behind the scenes of America’s transportation systems.

Strong Towns

Strong Towns PDF Author: Charles L. Marohn, Jr.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119564816
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
A new way forward for sustainable quality of life in cities of all sizes Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Build American Prosperity is a book of forward-thinking ideas that breaks with modern wisdom to present a new vision of urban development in the United States. Presenting the foundational ideas of the Strong Towns movement he co-founded, Charles Marohn explains why cities of all sizes continue to struggle to meet their basic needs, and reveals the new paradigm that can solve this longstanding problem. Inside, you’ll learn why inducing growth and development has been the conventional response to urban financial struggles—and why it just doesn’t work. New development and high-risk investing don’t generate enough wealth to support itself, and cities continue to struggle. Read this book to find out how cities large and small can focus on bottom-up investments to minimize risk and maximize their ability to strengthen the community financially and improve citizens’ quality of life. Develop in-depth knowledge of the underlying logic behind the “traditional” search for never-ending urban growth Learn practical solutions for ameliorating financial struggles through low-risk investment and a grassroots focus Gain insights and tools that can stop the vicious cycle of budget shortfalls and unexpected downturns Become a part of the Strong Towns revolution by shifting the focus away from top-down growth toward rebuilding American prosperity Strong Towns acknowledges that there is a problem with the American approach to growth and shows community leaders a new way forward. The Strong Towns response is a revolution in how we assemble the places we live.

Confessions of a Recovering Environmentalist and Other Essays

Confessions of a Recovering Environmentalist and Other Essays PDF Author: Paul Kingsnorth
Publisher: Graywolf Press
ISBN: 1555979726
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
A provocative and urgent essay collection that asks how we can live with hope in “an age of ecocide” Paul Kingsnorth was once an activist—an ardent environmentalist. He fought against rampant development and the depredations of a corporate world that seemed hell-bent on ignoring a looming climate crisis in its relentless pursuit of profit. But as the environmental movement began to focus on “sustainability” rather than the defense of wild places for their own sake and as global conditions worsened, he grew disenchanted with the movement that he once embraced. He gave up what he saw as the false hope that residents of the First World would ever make the kind of sacrifices that might avert the severe consequences of climate change. Full of grief and fury as well as passionate, lyrical evocations of nature and the wild, Confessions of a Recovering Environmentalist gathers the wave-making essays that have charted the change in Kingsnorth’s thinking. In them he articulates a new vision that he calls “dark ecology,” which stands firmly in opposition to the belief that technology can save us, and he argues for a renewed balance between the human and nonhuman worlds. This iconoclastic, fearless, and ultimately hopeful book, which includes the much-discussed “Uncivilization” manifesto, asks hard questions about how we’ve lived and how we should live.

Walkable City

Walkable City PDF Author: Jeff Speck
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0865477728
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
Presents a plan for American cities that focuses on making downtowns walkable and less attractive to drivers through smart growth and sustainable design

There Are No Accidents

There Are No Accidents PDF Author: Jessie Singer
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1982129689
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
A journalist recounts the surprising history of accidents and reveals how they’ve come to define all that’s wrong with America. We hear it all the time: “Sorry, it was just an accident.” And we’ve been deeply conditioned to just accept that explanation and move on. But as Jessie Singer argues convincingly: There are no such things as accidents. The vast majority of mishaps are not random but predictable and preventable. Singer uncovers just how the term “accident” itself protects those in power and leaves the most vulnerable in harm’s way, preventing investigations, pushing off debts, blaming the victims, diluting anger, and even sparking empathy for the perpetrators. As the rate of accidental death skyrockets in America, the poor and people of color end up bearing the brunt of the violence and blame, while the powerful use the excuse of the “accident” to avoid consequences for their actions. Born of the death of her best friend, and the killer who insisted it was an accident, this book is a moving investigation of the sort of tragedies that are all too common, and all too commonly ignored. In this revelatory book, Singer tracks accidental death in America from turn of the century factories and coal mines to today’s urban highways, rural hospitals, and Superfund sites. Drawing connections between traffic accidents, accidental opioid overdoses, and accidental oil spills, Singer proves that what we call accidents are hardly random. Rather, who lives and dies by an accident in America is defined by money and power. She also presents a variety of actions we can take as individuals and as a society to stem the tide of “accidents”—saving lives and holding the guilty to account.

Thoughts on Building Strong Towns

Thoughts on Building Strong Towns PDF Author: Charles L. Marohn (Jr.)
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781533018557
Category : BUSINESS & ECONOMICS
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
When the first volume of this book was published in 2011, Strong Towns was a fledgling nonprofit. Since then, it has grown into a national media organization with an award-winning website, StrongTowns.org, and accompanying podcast. Over the last five years, Strong Towns' member base has grown and its message has spread across the country. Volume II is a chance to share the top essays published on our website in 2015, reworked and compiled into compelling chapters including, "Can you be an engineer and speak out for reform?" "Dealing with Congestion," and "My Car Pays Cheaper Rent Than Me." Also included are sections on Strong Towns' ongoing campaigns, #NoNewRoads and #SlowtheCars. The book features writing from Strong Towns' president, Charles Marohn, as well as several Strong Towns contributors.

Road Gang

Road Gang PDF Author: H. V. Traywick Jr
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780990368786
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In the summer of 1969, young American men were called upon to go to Vietnam and to fight and die in a war that no one cared about any more. I was a first-hand witness to this. I had a wide range of experience in that conflict, and I saw "the good, the bad, and the ugly." My service included duty as an engineer with the paratroopers, a company commander with a construction battalion, a liaison officer for a Playboy Bunny, and a reconnaissance officer on the Cambodian border. The heart of my narrative is a road construction project in Viet Cong territory, but my service carried me all across South Vietnam and out to sea with the Navy on Yankee Station. What I saw was the demoralization of an army and the end of an era. What I experienced was my Rite of Passage.

Geography Of Nowhere

Geography Of Nowhere PDF Author: James Howard Kunstler
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0671888250
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
Argues that much of what surrounds Americans is depressing, ugly, and unhealthy; and traces America's evolution from a land of village commons to a man-made landscape that ignores nature and human needs.

Perverse Cities

Perverse Cities PDF Author: Pamela Blais
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774818980
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
Urban sprawl � low-density subdivisions and business parks, big box stores and mega-malls � has increasingly come to define city growth despite decades of planning and policy. In Perverse Cities, Pamela Blais argues that flawed public policies and mis-pricing create hidden, "perverse" subsidies and incentives that promote sprawl while discouraging more efficient and sustainable urban forms � clearly not what most planners and environmentalists have in mind. She makes the case for accurate pricing and better policy to curb sprawl and shows how this can be achieved in practice through a range of market-oriented tools that promote efficient, sustainable cities.

Streetfight

Streetfight PDF Author: Janette Sadik-Khan
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0143128973
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
Like a modern-day Jane Jacobs, Janette Sadik-Khan transformed New York City's streets to make room for pedestrians, cyclists, buses, and green spaces. Describing the battles she fought to enact change, Streetfight imparts wisdom and practical advice that other cities can follow to make their own streets safer and more vibrant. As New York City’s transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan managed the seemingly impossible and transformed the streets of one of the world’s greatest, toughest cities into dynamic spaces safe for pedestrians and cyclists. Her approach was dramatic and effective: Simply painting a part of the street to make it into a plaza or bus lane not only made the street safer, but it also lessened congestion and increased foot traffic, which improved the bottom line of businesses. Real-life experience confirmed that if you know how to read the street, you can make it function better by not totally reconstructing it but by reallocating the space that’s already there. Breaking the street into its component parts, Streetfight demonstrates, with step-by-step visuals, how to rewrite the underlying “source code” of a street, with pointers on how to add protected bike paths, improve crosswalk space, and provide visual cues to reduce speeding. Achieving such a radical overhaul wasn’t easy, and Streetfight pulls back the curtain on the battles Sadik-Khan won to make her approach work. She includes examples of how this new way to read the streets has already made its way around the world, from pocket parks in Mexico City and Los Angeles to more pedestrian-friendly streets in Auckland and Buenos Aires, and innovative bike-lane designs and plazas in Austin, Indianapolis, and San Francisco. Many are inspired by the changes taking place in New York City and are based on the same techniques. Streetfight deconstructs, reassembles, and reinvents the street, inviting readers to see it in ways they never imagined.