Sustainable Nation: Urban Design Patterns for the Future

As a real estate investor and developer focusing on competitive advantage, I have not found a better compendium that serves to keep me, my partners, and project teams, current and connected to leading edge practice and theory in our built world. I am eagerly awaiting the next installment!

The book introduces us to the role better design of buildings and neighborhoods can play in solving the ongoing crisis of climate change, the obesity epidemic, and urban sprawl. The book correctly explains that the human condition has vastly improved around the world, but that these crises threaten our progress and wellbeing. It explains how construction and neighborhood/city planning can help solve these crises and it gives a number of excellent examples of beautiful carbon neutral (or nearly carbon neutral) neighborhoods and buildings from around the world, Canada, Australia, and a couple of examples from Sweden. The book stresses the importance of making buildings and communities carbon neutral, walkable, and enjoyable to residents. In general, the book paints an optimistic picture of the future while acknowledging the seriousness of climate change, the obesity epidemic, and urban sprawl. The book is designed as a textbook featuring a very large number of references, diagrams and charts, lists of facts and colorful illustrations. This also makes the book more expensive. The second half of the book features 70 future oriented design patterns for buildings and neighborhoods. Most of these were well thought out and probably doable. There were a lot of good ideas laid out within these pages. However, I was also disappointed by some entries that were more leftwing opinions than solutions, which is why I cannot give this book four or five stars. I would like to explain myself so bear with me. Chapter 7 feature a utopic burning man neighborhood / pattern, something I would stay away from by 1,000 miles. Chapter 8 features an opinion piece on gentrification as being a dangerous disease that needs to be eradicated. It is presented as fact. I remember so called white flight, and how bad that was, but when the same people return it is even worse, I guess. That’s confusing. Whether wealthier people moving into a neighborhood and thereby improving it and thus making it on average more expensive is good or bad is up for debate. Chapter 11 includes entries opinionating that highways should be outlawed because of social justice, walkability, etc., and there is also other scary leftwing command and control language, which sounds like failure to me. Just because traffic is reduced when you remove local traffic and parking options does not mean that the problem is reduced. If you don’t provide incentives for carpooling or easy access to public transportation you will just move the problem somewhere else. Chapter 12 features a misguided critique of market forces. Despite the opinion that service jobs and manufacturing is the backbone of the economy they pay less because of their lesser economic value compared to, for example, high tech jobs. This is not a market failure. Once upon a time manufacturing was the engine of American prosperity but now it is the “innovation industry”, product design, inventions, software engineering, high-tech entertainment, scientific R&D, biotech, internet, financial services, etc. According to the economist Enrico Moretti every job in the innovation industry creates at least five additional jobs in other sectors. This explains the difference in salaries. These examples plus some poorly explained or unreadable graphs make me recommend this book only with hesitation.

It’s a good textbook with interesting facts.

This book was well-reviewed and I can see why- a lot of data, beautiful diagrams, and theoretical ideas about the future possibilities of a sustainable world. However, the more I read it, the more it felt written from a privileged viewpoint. It'd be amazing if 10% of the propositions in this book were plausible. Living in a poor section of a city the NYT recently labeled the third poorest city in the U.S., the book seemed grossly out of touch with reality. Perhaps that's the point- to dream large. However, it's hard to swallow this approach. The book felt like a pipe dream for wealthy white people, though a meaningful contribution to urban planning concepts.

How long will it take to turn the trend of our deteriorating environment? Gulp! The answer may be painful, but this read is full of in-depth research and digestible anecdotes that support why design matters. It inspires us to believe we are not powerless. Beautiful imagery and diagrams explain an array of complicated forces that impact the places we live, work and call home. Doug Farr and his leading guest authors teach us to re-frame the agonizing issues of climate change, obesity, and sprawl - into challenges with opportunities. Each American should attack this book with gusto and arm themselves with a few “Pattern Tools” that they understand well; you can become the local actor working for a healthy environment. This campaign to create a sustainable future is larger than oneself and each pattern depicts progress. A must read for anyone who desires leaving the next generation a beautiful planet to call home.

We have a couple of urban design programs/majors. I asked a couple of students to look/work through parts of the book and tell me what they thought of it. Both were enthusiastic, and thought that material from the book could and should be folded into a couple of different courses.

Sustainable Nation helps to frame some of the most daunting challenges of our time: climate change, sprawl and the obesity epidemic. These challenges are unique and require meaningful action on an accelerated timeline. By looking to the past, Sustainable Nation maps the arc of progress on pivotal issues that have shaped the nation and society. Looking forward, Sustainable Nation provides a framework for local action — ideas that will accelerate meaningful change on these complex issues. The book provides a realistic, facts-based assessment on where we are and inspires with urban design patterns that have the potential to change the world. Let's get to work!

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