Centre City Book Shelf #1

 

(books photo by BabblingDweeb)

One of the best ways to inspire change; to get people really fired up to embrace their city and make it the best it can be, is through books. Reading a book takes an investment of time and in doing so, the reader then is more likely to take ownership of some ideas - to share them, to act on them, to add to them.

So starting this month, we thought we'd be a little nosey with our colleagues on the City of Calgary's Centre City Implementation and Urban Design teams. We asked them to share with us the titles of the city-minded books they are currently reading -- books that help them with their approaches to developing an even better Centre City.  

Our first responder was David Plouffe.  He's the Acting Executive Assistant for the Director of Land Use Planning and Policy. He actually was kind enough to supply us with several titles but the first one we're featuring is: Civic Tourism: The Poetry and Politics of Place by Dan Shilling. David explains: 

Author Dan Shilling encourages communities to "reframe" tourism's purpose, from an end to a means -- from a market-driven growth goal to a tool that can help the public preserve what they love about their place. Shilling encourages communities to ask, "Why do we do tourism?" Are the comings and goings of guests little more than a backdrop for a growth policy that pays slight attention to its costs and consequences? Or can you imagine tourism as an enabler of healthy place-making, as a means to provide the sense of purpose and connection more people seek? 

 

If you're interested in finding out more about this title, you can check it out here. And we wanted to mention to you - if there are any city-aware books that you have come across that you'd like to share with us, we definitely want to hear from you. Leave a post when you can with a short description of what the book is about and why it has had an impact on you.  

 

Comments

[JonSun]

the best Book that I can recommend for the Centre City is titled "The Great Neighborhood Book" by Jay Walljasper (PPS- A Project For Public Spaces Book).
As far as I am concerned Anyone & Everyone associated with the Centre City should have a copy.... Breezy, Pragmatic and chock full of a myriad of examples and the genesis of how places and spaces grow organically. The issues that hinder a "better" City Centre become rather evident....I won't delve into the obvious.

Regards,
Jonathan

[Jen]

Yes! "Radiant City" is a wonderful film - did you know that Jim Brown (from CBC Radio's "The Calgary Eyeopener") worked on it along with Gary Burns? Wouldn't it be great if schools used that film in Social Studies? It's a great launching point for conversation about how we "grow" our cities.

[Radley77]

While not a book, I recently watched the Canadian documentary "Radiant City" that had a significant amount shot in Calgary. While most of it was a satirical look at city growth, some facts including the lengthening of commute times, growth in size of North American homes over the past few decades, lower rates of obesity in inner city areas, and struggles of suburban families with commuting and accomodating a hectic kids schedules. This highlighted some of the intangible costs of surbuban growth and some of the benefits (less expensive). It's currently rated at 94% on the website Rotten Tomatoes.