PREPARATORY READING FOR TOWN AND REGIONAL PLANNING COURSES (2012ENTRY)
Whilst there is no requirement for you to undertake reading prior to your studies at the University of Sheffield, we would encourage you to explore some of the relevant literature before you arrive, using your local library. We recommend that you do not purchase books until you arrive at university. Here is a selection of useful (and interesting) sources:
Key texts:
Cullingworth B and Nadin V (2006) Town and Country Planning in the UKRoutledge, Oxford.
This is a core (and highly readable) introduction to the town and country planning framework in the UK. It is a book to delve into rather than read from cover to cover, but will be useful throughout your course.
Hall T (2006) Urban Geography(2nd Edition)Routledge
An excellent introduction to contemporary cities and urban policy, this book will be useful throughout the course.
Henson R (2006) The Rough Guide to Climate Change Rough Guide Ltd.
LeGates RT and Stout F (2007) The City Reader, Fourth Edition, Routledge, Oxford.
An excellent introduction of classic and contemporary writings on cities.
Morris, A E J (1994) History of urban form, 3rd Ed, London: George Godwin.
Ward S (2004) Planning and Urban Change Chapman
Ward’s book offers a historical view of planning and urban development. It is shorter than Cullingworth and Nadin, and therefore a book that you might read from cover to cover.
Lynch, K (1960) Image of the City, MIT Press.
Other useful texts:
Barton H (2002) Sustainable Communities: The Potential for Eco-neighbourhoodsEarthscan, London.
Berners Lee M (2010) How Bad Are Bananas?: The carbon footprint ofEverything, Profile Books, London.
Briggs, A (1963) Victorian Cities, Penguin, London.
Fainstein S (2010) The Just City Cornell University Press.
Gilg A (2005) Planning in Britain: Understanding and Evaluating the Post-War System: Understanding and Evaluating the Post- War System Sage, London.
Glaeser, E (2011) The Triumph of the City, Penguin Press, London.
Greed, C (2004) Introducing Planning, Continuum International.
Hall P and Tewdwr Jones M (2010) Urban and Regional Planning, Routledge, Oxford.
Hanley L (2007) Estates,Granta, London.
Hatherley O (2012) A New Kind of Bleak: Journeys Through Urban Britain,Verso Books, London.
This is a polemical account which provides a good indication of some of the key contemporary debates and controversies within planning.
Hatherley O (2010) A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain,Verson, London.
Howard E Garden Cities of Tomorrow (various editions)
This is a classic text from one of the founding fathers of town planning, written in the early Twentieth-Century.
Hunt T (2004) Building Jerusalem: The Rise and Fall of the Victorian CityWeidenfield and Nicolson, London.
This is an excellent account which demonstrates the importance of understanding the historical development of cities.
Jacobs, J (1961) The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Vintage, New York.
Lynas M (2006) Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet, Harper Books, London.
Minton A (2012) Ground Control, Penguin, London.
This is a polemical account which provides a good indication of some of the key contemporary debates and controversies within planning.
Platt E (2001) Leadville: A Biography of the A40 Picador
Sandercock L (1997) Towards Cosmopolis: Planning for Multicultural Cities Wiley.
You might also like to look at information on websites:
Fundamentals Urban Design Compendium
Royal Town Planning Institute (rtpi.org.uk)
Search these academic journal websites for papers that interest you:
- Journal of Planning History:
- Planning Perspectives journal:
- Urban History journal:
articles/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-victorian-city
National Planning Policy Guidance:
Government planning website for legislation, policy guidance and research related to cities and research:
Look particularly at the recent State of the Cities report, the most comprehensive survey ever undertaken of UK towns and cities:
Films/Novels:
Al Gore (2006) An Inconvenient Truth Film/DVD
Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet (video)
The Wire (TV series), especially Seasons 1 & 2
An anatomy of the workings of a deindustrialised city from the perspective of various institutions including drug cartels, trade unions, property developers, police and local political parties
London (1994) and Robinson in Space (1997) (dir: Patrick Kieller).
Two films critiquing the economic landscape of the UK under Thatcherism/neoliberalism, as seen through the eyes of an unnamed itinerant narrator.
Over the Edge (1979) (dir: Jonathan Kaplan)
A cult film about some of the social problems caused by poorly planned new communities – in this case a fictional desert new town in the USA, where a lack of facilities for kids, and an economic growth imperative for the city leaders, leads to crime problems.
Bladerunner (1982) (dir: Ridley Scott)
A classic sci-fi film but one which presents a disturbing dystopian vision of a decayed urban future, in contrast to the modernist aesthetic that dominated the late 20th Century.
City of God (Cidade de Deus) (2002) (dir:Fernando Meirelles)No-holds-barred critically-acclaimed account of life in a Brazilian slum.
Bread and Roses (2000) (dir: Ken Loach)
A critique of social and economic inequalities in Los Angeles seen through the perspective of low-paid workers. The film was inspired by the so-called ‘Justice for Janitors’ movement and touches on a number of urban issues relating to immigration, segregation and economic growth. Several other films by Ken Loach deal with important urban issues; of particular note are Cathy Come Home (1966) (homelessness, slum clearance and redevelopment) and Kes (1969) (themes of alienation and youth in industrial Britain).
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