Posted January 20, 1999

People Places: Design Guidelines for Urban Open Space
Edited by Claire Cooper Marcus (second edition)
Professor Emeritus of Landscape Architecture and Architecture
Carolyn Francis
Former Professor of Landscape Architecture and Architecture

"People Places" analyzes and summarizes existing research on how urban open spaces are used, offering design professionals and students an easily understood guide to creating people-friendly places. Types of urban open space discussed include: urban plazas, neighborhood parks, miniparks and vest-pocket parks, campus outdoor spaces, and outdoor spaces for the elderly, child-care and hospitals.

Civic Wars: Democracy and Public Life in the American City During the 19th Century
By Mary P. Ryan
Professor of History and Women's Studies

"Civic Wars" explores the fate of public life and the emergence of ethnic, class and gender conflicts in the 19th century American city. Ryan analyzes events in three uniquely different cities -- New York, New Orleans and San Francisco -- to illustrate how city spaces were used, understood and fought over by a dazzling variety of social groups and political forces. Democratic exuberance, she argues, was damaged by the Civil War, after which the public order became "less public, less democratic and more visibly scarred by racial bigotry."

Disaster Hits Home: New Policy for Urban Housing Recovery
By Mary Comerio
Professor of Architecture

"Disaster Hits Home" examines the mechanisms used today to finance disaster recovery, with an emphasis on the destruction of housing caused by earthquakes and hurricanes. Through detailed case studies of housing losses and rebuilding efforts, she demonstrates that factors including scale and media visibility have fundamentally changed the dynamics of housing recovery.

January 20 - 26, 1999 (Volume 27, Number 19)
Copyright 1999, The Regents of the University of California.
Produced and maintained by the Office of Public Affairs at UC Berkeley.
Comments? E-mail berkeleyan@pa.urel.berkeley.edu.