Review of The Encyclopedia of Housing (Hardcover)

The essence of every encyclopedia is to cover the largest number of topics (entries) pertinent to the field in study. Although Housing is a vast term and can encompass many things, this book has clearly missed a huge number. If my memory serves me right there is no mention about neighborhood concept, very little on new urbanism, nothing on smart growth, ecological villages and sustainable communities...there is much more missing, this is only a part. As I said it is tough to include all, but take a note of the upcoming Encyclopedia of the City from Routledge (editor Professor Roger Caves from San Diego) and you will see what an encyclopedia means. This book needs a 2nd heavily revised edition. I don't envy the editors at all, it is a horrible task to do something like this.



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Review of Reclaiming Public Housing: A Half Century of Struggle in Three Public Neighborhoods (Hardcover)

As an urban planning student (B.A. 2003), who is especially interested in public housing, I have read dozens of books and articles on the subject.

Reclaiming Public Housing is the best I have read yet. The stories of the three redeveloped public housing projects (one was a failure, one a widely-recognized success, and one a mixed-success) are beautifully written - rich with detail and imagery. This book is a far cry from the usual dull statistical tomes that tend to plaque the urban planning/sociology fields. Instead, it represents the perfect balance of statistics and anecdotal evidence, topped off with a wide selection of photos.

Anyone wishing to better understand the past, present, and future of public housing should definitely buy this book.



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