[ePub] The Portland Edge: Challenges And Successes In Growing Communities by From Island Press in Arts-Photography

Review

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Very useful overviewBy Hugh H. SchwartzThe Portland Edge provides a very useful overview of developments in the Portland area. combining the responses of those with different sets of concerns. It helped me a good deal in understanding what has gone on there over in recent years. and in preparing my current piece on Incoporating Economics Into Urban Planning.Hugh Schwartz. author of a book on Curitiba. Brazil0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Not really the model of great urban leadershipBy From the Pacific NWPublished 2012; now its mid 2017. Portland is now has the most expensive housing market relative to income of any USA city. No cause evictions are common. Homelessness and tent cities are common and widespread. Not really the model of great urban leadership. planning. or policy. Certainly not anything sustainable and definitely no longer livable.11 of 11 people found the following review helpful. The successes and challenges in Portland communitiesBy YanI am a professor of City and Regional Planning and I found this book a much-needed addition to the urban-planning literature. The book is written at a level appropriate for a wide range of audiences including planning students. policy makers. politicians. urban planners. and community activists. The comprehensiveness of the work provides a much-needed explanation for students yearning for a broader understanding of how an ensemble of urban elements can help American cities accommodate growth while sustaining a sense of community for their dwellers.What is unique about Portlands current land-use system? If planning is so popular. how does one explain the recent backlash? Where would be the balance between regulatory rules and other possibilities? These are examples of questions asked by The Portland Edge (edited by Connie Ozawa). written by a team of academics at Portland State Universitys School of Urban Studies and Planning. The thirteen chapters of the edited book are organized in four sections. The first section presents the demographic. economic. and civic character of the Portland region by presenting data on key dimensions of economy. equity. and environment. The second section traces Portlands growth-management policies and details the institutional structures by describing a range of the roles of regional and city bodies. such as Metro (the elected regional planning authority). the Portland Development Commission. citizen-involvement mechanisms. and neighborhood associations. The third section unveils Portlands social structures that allow people to create collective visions of community and offers examples of how the underrepresented groups and the citizen advocates work to voice themselves. The last section lays out several issues of the most interest. such as the liveliness of downtown and neighborhoods. housing affordability. implementation of state transportation and environment policies at the local jurisdiction level. and Portlands responses to the homeless.Those interested in examining the ways in which urban policy and planning have made a difference in the Portland region will find that the book offers a valuable overview of the region. a helpful background of the stressors on the current urban political and social system. and an effective explanation of current conditions in the context of the people and social institutions that have been influential in shaping todays Portland. The book offers the reader a comprehensive range of matters: each chapter picks a different angle of the inquiry--for example. the struggle between the well represented and the underrepresented. the competition between the central city and the suburbs. the rivalry between highways and transit. and the balance between Portlands natural landscapes and the interests of todays property owners. The bulk of the book presents a balanced view of Portland today through operationalizing the concept of quality of life. The book contributes in integrating environmental. social. and economic issues in a systematic evaluation framework that allows other communities to carry out critical and empirical inquiry to examine civic identity and urban environment in their communities. The book does a good job of what it intends to accomplish: to detail successes and challenges in Portland communities.