Resilient Cities: Responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change

by Peter Newman, Timothy Beatley, Heather Boyer

Half of the world’s inhabitants now live in cities. In the next twenty years, the number of urban dwellers will swell to an estimated five billion people. With their inefficient transportation systems and poorly designed buildings, many cities―especially in the United States―consume enormous quantities of fossil fuels and emit high levels of greenhouse gases. But our planet is rapidly running out of the carbon-based fuels that have powered urban growth for centuries and we seem to be unable to curb our greenhouse gas emissions. Are the world’s cities headed for inevitable collapse?

 

The authors of this spirited book don’t believe that oblivion is necessarily the destiny of urban areas. Instead, they believe that intelligent planning and visionary leadership can help cities meet the impending crises, and look to existing initiatives in cities around the world. Rather than responding with fear (as a legion of doomsaying prognosticators have done), they choose hope. First, they confront the problems, describing where we stand today in our use of oil and our contribution to climate change. They then present four possible outcomes for ”collapse,” “ruralized,”  “divided,” and “resilient.” In response to their scenarios, they articulate how a new “sustainable urbanism” could replace today’s “carbon-consuming urbanism.” They address in detail how new transportation systems and buildings can be feasibly developed to replace our present low efficiency systems. In conclusion, they offer ten “strategic steps” that any city can take toward greater sustainability and resilience.

 

This is not a book filled with “blue sky” theory (although blue skies will be a welcome result of its recommendations). Rather, it is packed with practical ideas, some of which are already working in cities today. It frankly admits that our cities have problems that will worsen if they are not addressed, but it suggests that these problems are solvable. And the time to begin solving them is now.

Genres: Environment, Urban Planning, Sustainability, Peak Oil

184 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2008

About the author

Librarian Note: There are more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Jay · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was sorely lacking. It seemed like a journal article that they expanded into a book, only they forgot that when you write a book you need more content. I agree with the basic premise, peak oil and climate change combined will require massive shifts in how we generate and use energy. Only problem is they dont explore these topics in any depth. Granted plenty of other authors have and the book is well referenced for these topics, but really if you are just making a list of what is already known why are you writting a book?
In the end this book adds nothing new to the discussion and instead ends up a laundry list of what we could do, which is already obvious to anyone who has studied this topic at all, and a cheerleading list for the places around the globe that are doing something. It doesn't really investigate the challenges of how to get from here to there. Do yourself a favor and read something else.

[Sudhir Chintamani · Rating 5 out of 5]

I an an Oil man myself and found this book to be very useful. This book tells us how cities should act and tackle the energy situation. I would recommend this book.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The authors of Resilient Cities deserve a good deal of credit for their effort to present a viable and hopeful picture of the world environmental crisis in a time when pessimism and panic have paralyzed many policy makers(particularly those in city planning who are in the position of having to predict the unpredictable and plan for a completely unknown future).

I found the author's arguments to be convincing, particular in regards to their view that cities, rather than being destructive human stains blighting the pristine natural order, are in reality the very things that will be our salvation in the end. I also appreciated the idea they introduce about the sequential phases of human technological evolution with the necessary shift to sustainable (resilient) practices as just the next phase after the industrial and digital revolutions that have thus far shaped human environments. The third thing that is strong within this book is its emphasis on policy changes originating from national and local governments rather than more laissez-faire tactics.

This being said, the book is dry and the text reads like a sophomore term paper. Nearly every sentence is peppered with statistics and the flow of the information is not very digestible. The problem from my point of view was that the authors did not clearly separate between technological, social and political strategies for obtaining resilient city status. Instead of being a systematic strategy it was like a laundry list of specific options which the authors recommend deploying with neither a clear framework nor hierarchy. If I were a city planner, I would find it difficult to know where to begin.

Beyond that, what I found problematic was some of the holes in what is presented as an outline to be applied the world over. Namely, the role of developing nations/cities in this green revolution. Just one time do the authors talk about a sort of "knowledge transfer" that should happen from first to third world countries and there is a note that the less developed a nation, the faster urbanization is happening and the more destructive and problematic its impact.

All of the discussion involves turning the tides in wealthy western countries and the resulting lifestyle projected on the citizens of the future looks a lot like an upper-middle class person's fantasy (picking the kids up from school on bikes, shopping at a local farmer's marker etc.) Not that this is a bad lifestyle and not that the first world countries shouldn't be leaders in the world on this front, but I think perhaps a more regionally specific look at the same questions might reveal that depending on cultural, political and economic (as well as environmental) conditions of a particular place there might be radically different approaches taken to achieve equal environmental benefits.

Overall I'm very glad to have read the book and I hope more people take this positive and generative outlook on researching urban environmental questions.

[Gunsonm]

This is a great book to give to your city or regional counsel members if they need some examples of what other jurisdictions are doing, in order to move forward with modernizing existing rules to enable green building and transit systems. Many cities and regions are held back from instituting new technologies and building practices by fear: fear of liability issues, fear of making a mistake and looking bad in front of their peers and superiors,..., and is often based on a lack of knowledge. One of the authors of this book has worked as a city planner, and presents the information in a way that can aid in working with your city planners / inspectors to raise their awareness of advances in green technologies as applied to their profession. This helps them look good to their bosses and enhances their careers, which can aid you in implementing new processes and systems in your area.

Overall, a very informative book with lots of references and a very good index. I will probably be borrowing this book again (from my local public library).

[Lenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

The authors are well-known, but fail to offer a difference or arrangement of resilient and sustainable cities. As far as I was concerned, without a definition, a strong environmental definition and city definition of resiliency, the word could have been replaced every time with sustainability. There were even times the authors seemed to blend the two, perhaps unknowingly.

Unfair as that may be, the two processes/ideas are necessarily both required. But when twenty years of sustainability has been calling for renewable energy to allow this generation and future generations to exist with the benefits of today equal to those tomorrow, suddenly saying that weening off oil is a resilient strategy is weird. The examples were the same European "hopeful" cities as have been written about before/after by Beatley, rather than cities of "fear" which would be excellent examples for plannerly recommendations.

I didn't get that from this book, though the last chapter was by far the best with some recommendations that really resonated with me.

[Rock · Rating 2 out of 5]

More of a magazine article than a book, it would have been more useful if it spent less time explaining why resiliency might be necessary and more time explaining how to be resilient. They cram all their resiliency tips into two chapters, one that lists their seven ways to be resilient, and one that explains more about transportation resiliency. I wanted to be convinced that these seven techniques would make a city resilient, but I don't think the book actually did much to convince me.

[R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of the peak oil crisis and what we can do to change our cities to adjust to the coming crisis.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth it for the few examples of ideas in action...

[liz bacon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Im reading this book for work.

[Gabriela Mengarda · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the other comments already mentioned, this book is ok for those who want to have an overview of the topic and some examples, but does not go deep into the question.