Penguin, Sep 17, 2009 - Social Science - 368 pages. These items are shipped from and sold by different sellers. This book is an ode to New York City, if it doesn't work like New York, it stinks in terms of its environmentalism. . Learn more about the program. In the last 2 chapters or so, Owen seems to really revel in his polemics and keeps tacking on opinions which run contrary to typical environmental creed. Urban development and sustainability are two topics that are quite close to my heart, being a committed bike-riding, inveterate urbanite. A darker yet mysterious version of Memento, this book … What a concept. like learning that living in cities can be and frequently is better for the environment than living out in the country. To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number. David Owen. Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less Are the Keys to Sustainability. Buy, Sep 17, 2009 This is a resource that should be treasured by city dwellers. Something we hope you'll especially enjoy: FBA items qualify for FREE Shipping and Amazon Prime. I think to think of Houston--I'm in Texas--as I know it on from the interstate highways running through it. So that a city larger than Housto. Get on Amazon. At the same time, Jane Jacobs' book Life and Death of the American City (which Owen quotes frequently), already covered that. Owen makes some good points about building green (things like prioritizing insulation, reducing the size of a space, and considering the building's relationship to the community around it). Unable to add item to List. His tone was a bit arrogant, and he seemed to go out of his way to insult most issues that environmentalists hold dear. Sprawling urban areas like Atlanta and Phoenix get just as much criticism as rural areas and suburbs, and he takes to task some of the misguided things done in the name of being green that serve to justify a lifestyle of excess consumption. Waste heat is less because shared walls help heat adjacent homes. Good book, extremely cheap Amazon binding. He even points out that the increased gas prices of the past several years only minimally increased mass transit use, since once you got to work there was no where to go without a car. “[Green Metropolis] challenges many cherished assumptions about easy-on-the-earth country living… Pugnacious and contrarian, the book has a lot of fun at the expense of sentimental pastoralists, high-minded environmentalists and rich people trying to buy their way into higher green consciousness with expensive ‘eco-friendly’ add-ons (photovoltaic panels on their suburban McMansions, say).” —New York Times“Green Metropolis is important not for the answers it yields but the questions it raises—questions that should be part of the ongoing dialogue about the health of our planet.” —Christian Science Monitor“Green Metropolis is an important contribution to our understanding of how we live.” —Boston Globe“A marvelously clear-eyed analysis of the growing energy/environmental crisis.” —Hartford Courant“David Owen always delights with his elegant insights and his challenges to conventional thinking. by Knopf. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, Burlington MA- Used Book Superstore -new books too, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. I came up with some of my own ideas (about changing zoning laws, building guidelines, and road construction priorities) that might help, but I would've loved it if the author had given some positive examples of how communities other than Manhattan have made progress in the right direction. A great book that breaks down the common beliefs—myths, really—of Priuses and environmental trends. Basically nothi. There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. For my final month of reading and reflecting on scholar level, non-scientific books for the forseeable near-future, my random grab off the library book shelf has brought you today the musings of David Owen’s “Green Metropolis: Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less.”, everyone outside of cities and people who think they are environmentalists but hate cities, BIAS DISCLAIMER: I'm an environmentalist and pro-urban, pro-city or whatever. Who else has sold more than 200 million... To see what your friends thought of this book. So far, I am really enjoying the content. So in some ways, I couldn't go wrong with a book from an expert extolling some of my favorite ideas about urban density, the importance of transit, and the un-sustainability of sprawl. For example, it would *not* involve buying a Prius, installing high-tech windows, putting in solar panels, shifting toward consumption of locally produced food and other goods, building LEED certified buildings, or moving to a rural area and "living off the land." Anything we can do to make other cities more like New York City or increase density within New York City so more people will live there is an environmental win. The author's point is that there is. Residents of Manhattan—the most densely populated place in North America—rank first in public-transit use and last in percapita greenhouse-gas production, and they consume gasoline at a rate that the country as a whole hasn’t matched since the mid-1920s, when the most widely owned car in the United States was the Ford Model T. They are also among the only people in the United States for whom walking is still an important means of daily transportation. You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition. Most Americans think of crowded cities as ecological nightmares, as wastelands of concrete and garbage and diesel fumes and traffic jams. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 17, 2013. His basic thesis is that dense urban cores like Manhattan that encourage mass transit and walking are inherently "greener" than other areas, even if people in other areas do all the "right" things--driving a hybrid, installing solar panels, recycling, etc. Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. 9. There's a problem loading this menu right now. There is so much in this book that I'll simply touch on some of the parts I found the most interesting. There was enough of interest in this book to keep me reading all the way to the end, but there were a lot of annoyances along the way. This city dweller will always refuse the sprawl... Mythbuster - for myths you didn't know were myths, Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2014. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 18, 2015. We work hard to protect your security and privacy. In fact, it increases the damage, while also making the problems they cause harder to see and to address. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. In the same spirit, he boldly attacks LEED criteria as being essentially little more than greenwashing. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. You will get an email reminder before your trial ends. He had a point in many of those cases, but it was hard to get around his obnoxious tone. Der Autor beschreibt die Vorteile von dichter Verbauung für die Stadtentwicklung, Verkehr und die Bewohner.

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