Unfortunately, many proposals for improving our communities rely on renewed governmental efforts without a similar recognition that the inflexibility and poor accountability of governments have often worsened society's ills. The Voluntary City investigates the history of large-scale, private provision of social services, the for-profit provision of urban infrastructure and community governance, and the growing privatization of residential life in the United States to argue that most decentralized, competitive markets can contribute greatly to community renewal.Among the fascinating topics covered are: how mutual-aid societies in America, Great Britain, and Australia provided their members with medical care, unemployment insurance, sickness insurance, and other social services before the welfare state; how private law, known historically as the law merchant, is returning in the form of arbitration; and why the rise of neighborhood associations represents the most comprehensive privatization occurring in the United States today.The volume concludes with an epilogue that places the discoveries of The Voluntary City within the theory of market and government failure and discusses the implications of these discoveries for theories about the private provision of public goods. A refreshing challenge to the position that insists government alone can improve community life, The Voluntary City will be of special interest to students of history, law, urban life, economics, and government.David T. Beito is Associate Professor of History, University of Alabama. Peter Gordon is Professor in the School of Policy, Planning, and Development and Department of Economics, University of Southern California. Alexander Tabarrok is Vice President and Research Director, the Independent Institute.

    This 320-acre federal parkwill provide natural and formal garden environments, offering both passiveand active recreation while promoting such themes as environmentalsustainability, new ecologies, and the rich heritage of the site.Contributors to this volume analyze the entries of the competition finalistsand consider a range of issues raised by the competition, includinglandscape architecture, geography, landscape ecology, and contemporaryurbanism.This competition was especially noteworthy because it encouraged submissionsfrom teams comprised of designers from varying fields, including ecology,graphic design, and landscape architecture. The historically charged site,the competition's visionary parameters, and the resulting innovativecollaborations of the five finalists-including the winning design by adiverse team led by Rem Koolhaas of the Office for MetropolitanArchitecture-make the Downsview competition and its outcome a particularlysignificant case study for architecture, urbanism, and landscape design.

    The Venice Hospital is the uncontested epitome ofthe "mat," or carpet, building type-a low sprawling structure developed inthe late fifties and sixties that is making a strong comeback incontemporary architecture.Planned in 1965 for the arsenal area at the edge of the city, the hospitalwas designed to extend the city's roads and canal networks, whilesimultaneously turning in on itself to create flexible, quasi-urban interiorenvironments in the form of endlessly repeating courtyards. Upon LeCorbusier's death in 1965, Guillermo Jullian de la Fuente was commissionedto complete the building. However, due to changes in city government, theproject was eventually abandoned.This book reinvestigates this canonic example of Le Corbusier's late workand includes an account of de la Fuente's involvement in the project,previously unpublished drawings from his archive, and a reprint of AlisonSmithson's seminal essay on "mat" buildings.

    Even though today's vital infrastructure and systems are pushed beyond capacity, the greater metropolis will receive an additional two million people by 2005. To prepare for this tremendous growth, the city must reconsider its planning strategies as well as the revitalization of the downtown core--the geographical and symbolic heart of Los Angeles and, potentially, the connective tissue for all of the city's cultures. By applying original thought and creativity to the challenges of the downtown area, we can begin to plan now for the real consequences of Los Angeles's future growth. Conceived by Richard Koshalek, L.A. Now is a collaborative design initiative to focus creativity on downtown Los Angeles and provide the foundation for its future development. L.A. Now brings together the work of UCLA architecture students under the direction of studio leader Thom Mayne (Morphosis), CalArts Graphic Design students, and Art Center film and photography students and others in two distinctive, lavishly illustrated books. The first volume, L.A. Now, offers a virtual snapshot of Los Angeles at the beginning of the twenty-first century. A rich amalgamation of recent data, text, graphic design, and photography, this book documents the city's radical heterogeneity, hybridity, and fragmentation into four sections: Los Angeles, habitat, people, and money.Cover Photo Credit: Mark Lipson

    Alex MacLean's photographs—many of them combined with computer simulations to illustrate how landscapes are transformed over time—show how traditional development patterns produce more compact cities and towns. In conjunction, the authors introduce communities that have successfully fought sprawl, invigorated their town areas, and overcome the car-culture mentality of sprawl development. The case they make, and the examples they offer, will inspire planners, officials, and concerned citizens everywhere.

    Shaping Neighbourhoods is the indispensable guide for bridging the gulf between theory and practice, between planning authorities, investors and communities, and between different professional perspectives.　Whether you are a student faced with a local planning project; a planner, urban designer or developer involved in new development; a health authority concerned with promoting physical activity; or a community group wanting to improve your neighbourhood; this book is for you.