The following is a list of books that we recommend relating to urban ecovillage work. We're sure the list is far from complete. Please contact us if you have more suggestions.
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- Beatley, Timothy & Manning, Kristy. Ecology of Place. Island Press, 1997
- In The Ecology of Place, Timothy Beatley and Kristy Manning describe a world in which land is consumed sparingly, cities and towns are vibrant and green, local economies thrive, and citizens work together to create places of enduring value. They present a holistic and compelling approach to repairing and enhancing communities, introducing a vision of "sustainable places" that extends beyond traditional architecture and urban design to consider not just the physical layout of a development but the broad set of ways in which communities are organized and operate.
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- Christian, Diana Leafe. Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities. New Society Publishers, 2003
- Christian, Diana Leafe. Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities. New Society Publishers, 2003
- Creating a Life Together is the only resource available that provides step-by-step practical information distilled from numerous firsthand sources on how to establish ecovillages and intentional communities. It deals in depth with structural, interpersonal and leadership issues, decision-making methods, vision statements, and the development of a legal structure, as well as profiling well-established model communities. Includes excellent sample documents among its wealth of resources.
**Order at Discount from the Ecovillage Network of the Americas, eStore ** -
- Dudley Street Neighborhood Iniative
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- Documentary:
Holding Ground: The Rebirth of Dudley Street (Mark Lipman and Leah Mahan)- Book:
Medoff, Peter and Sklar, Holly. Streets of Hope: The Fall and Rise of an Urban Neighborhood. South End Press, Boston, MA, 1994.
"Streets of Hope is a case study of one neighborhood - the Dudley neighborhood in Boston's Roxbury area. A poor, minority (93 percent black, Hispanic and Cape Verdean in 1990) neighborhood, it is the site of a unique experiment in neighborhood democracy and redevelopment called the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI). DSNI is the only community organization in the U.S. to obtain the right of eminent domain, aimed at allowing it to reclaim abandoned land on which to rebuild. Dudley and Roxbury have been devastated by redlining, urban renewal-caused displacement, racial blockbusting, housing abandonment and arson, and unemployment exacerbated by deindustrialization." - Documentary:
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- Engwicht, David. Street Reclaiming, Creating Livable Streets and Vibrant Communities. New Society Books, 1999.
- Evans, Peter, ed. Livable Cities? Urban Struggles for Livelihood and Sustainability. California: University of California Press, 2002
- Engwicht, David. Street Reclaiming, Creating Livable Streets and Vibrant Communities. New Society Books, 1999.
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The sprawling cities of the developing world are vibrant hubs of economic growth, but they are also increasingly ecologically unsustainable and, for ordinary citizens, increasingly unlivable. Pollution is rising, affordable housing is decreasing, and green space is shrinking. Since three-quarters of those joining the world's population during the next century will live in Third World cities, making these urban areas more livable is one of the key challenges of the twenty-first century. This book explores the linked issues of livelihood and ecological sustainability in major cities of the developing and transitional world. Livable Cities? identifies important strategies for collective solutions by showing how political alliances among local communities, nongovernmental organizations, and public agencies can help ordinary citizens live better lives. -
- Jackson, Hildur & Svensson, Karen, eds. Ecovillage Living: Restoring the Earth and Her People. Green Books, 2002
- Jackson, Hildur & Svensson, Karen, eds. Ecovillage Living: Restoring the Earth and Her People. Green Books, 2002
- Ecovillage Living is a full-color guide to everything you've always wanted to know about ecovillages, from the people behind them to the tools to make them happen. If you have ever dreamed of natural housing, to know your neighbors, and a more harmonious lifestyle then this is the book for you. This is an unprecedented how-to and why account of ecovillage living, and a vibrant story of people spearheading a lifestyle that is rapidly becoming a new global culture. Here, you will find articles and interviews with ecological builders, water treatment experts, ecovillage designers, mediators, permaculturists, spiritual thinkers, localization activists, and other ecovillage pioneers from around the world. Ecovillage Living is built around the ecological, social, and cultural-spiritual dimensions of ecovillages, each of which is subdivided into five core elements. It displays inspiring, colorful pictures and full-page photo galleries of ecovillages around the globe, visual testimonies to their richness and diversity. The book also provides an extensive list of related resources and contacts.
**Order at Discount from the Ecovillage Network of the Americas, eStore ** -
- Jacobs, Jane. Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Vintage Books, 1961
- Jacobs, Jane. Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Vintage Books, 1961
- Thirty years after its publication, The Death and Life of Great American Cities was described by The New York Times as "perhaps the most influential single work in the history of town planning....It can also be seen in a much larger context. It is first of all a work of literature; the descriptions of street life as a kind of ballet and the bitingly satiric account of traditional planning theory can still be read for pleasure even by those who long ago absorbed and appropriated the book's arguments." Jane Jacobs, an editor and writer on architecture in New York City in the early sixties, argued that urban diversity and vitality were being destroyed by powerful architects and city planners. Rigorous, sane, and delightfully epigrammatic, Jacobs's small masterpiece is a blueprint for the humanistic management of cities. It is sensible, knowledgeable, readable, indispensable.
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- Newman, Peter and Kenworthy, Jeffrey. Sustainability and Cities, Overcoming Automobile Dependence. Island Press, 1999.
- Olkowski, Helga and Bill, Javits, Tom and the Farallones Institute Staff. The Integral Urban House, Self-Reliant Living in the City. Sierra Club Books, 1979. (Out of Print?)
- Register, Richard. EcoCities: Building Cities in Balance with Nature. Berkeley: Berkeley Hills Books, 2002
- Newman, Peter and Kenworthy, Jeffrey. Sustainability and Cities, Overcoming Automobile Dependence. Island Press, 1999.
- In this long-awaited visionary work, one of the world's leading urban theorists presents a comprehensive plan for the city of the future, a pedestrian-oriented community designed to foster lively social interaction, environmental sustainability and the healthy evolution of humanity.
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Also check out:
- New Society Books
Chelsea Green Publishing
Fellowship for Intentional Communities Bookstore
