The Walkable City
Why have so many people around the world migrated to urban cities and their environs over time? Is it just for jobs? Or is there something else special to urban living? This section will have students read, research, and live—through walking tours of Lexington—what cities have to offer the lived experiences of individuals. We will reflect on where and how we each want to reside as humans wanting to live out our best lives. But city life can’t all be good, right? So we will also read and discuss what urban life can’t provide for our individual and collective needs. How is it lacking? The purpose of this course—including individual research—is for students to consider how and where they want to live, and why.
REQUIRED TEXT - Walkable City (Tenth Anniversary Edition) by ISBN: 9781250857989Publication Date: 2022The bestselling urban planning book of the past decade, translated into seven languages, Walkable City has changed the conversation on community design across America and beyond.
Possible Catalog Searches
Here are some example searches on your class topic in the library catalog. To conduct your own searches, go to the library homepage.
Featured Books
Companion to Urban and Regional Studies by ISBN: 9781119316916Publication Date: 2021-05-14Indispensable overview and timely coverage of the major issues, debates, and research topics in urban and regional studies.
Life among Urban Planners by ISBN: 0812297164Publication Date: 2020-06-26A collection of ethnographic case studies of urban planners and their practices.
The New City: how to build our sustainable urban future by ISBN: 0231556039Publication Date: 2023espommier presents us with a bold new vision of our urban future, if only we are willing to listen to what nature can teach us about the best way to grow food, store carbon, harvest rainwater, and renew energy for the cities of the future.
Science for the Sustainable City by ISBN: 9780300249385Publication Date: 2019A presentation of key findings and insights from over two decades of research, education, and community engagement in the acclaimed Baltimore Ecosystem Study.
Soft City by ISBN: 9781642830194Publication Date: 2019-08-20Soft City offers inspiration, ideas, and guidance for anyone interested in city building. Sim shows how to make any city more efficient, more livable, and better connected to the environment.
Tourism and Everyday Life in the Contemporary City by ISBN: 9780429507168Publication Date: 2019-02-06This book explores the phenomena of the urban everyday and new urban tourism.
Well-Intentioned Whiteness by ISBN: 9780820364117Publication Date: 2023-04-15This book documents how whiteness can take up space in U.S. cities and policies through well-intentioned progressive policy agendas that support green urbanism.
The Warmth of Other Suns by ISBN: 9780679444329Publication Date: 2010-09-07In this beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life.
Gather Background Information
Use broad reference materials to find out background information about your topic. This will help you narrow your future searches and will also give you keywords to find the most relevant sources. Credo can be a good place to start for that first step in research.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Credo Reference provides access to a large number of encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri and other reference books. Subjects covered include art, biography, history, literature, music, religion, and science and technology.
Databases
Below are suggested databases with scholarly articles on these topics.
Need more options? Library Databases A-Z
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. Includes searchable PDF content going back as far as 1887. - JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Provides articles from 1,900+ scholarly journals in the arts, humanities, and sciences and around 5,000 ebooks. Coverage dates for journals are from the very first issue of each journal (the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries for many) and continues to 2 – 5 years prior to the current year (moving wall). - Sociological Collection This link opens in a new window
Access to more than 500 full text journals, including nearly 500 peer-reviewed titles. Sociological Collection offers information in all areas of sociology, including social behavior, human tendencies, interaction, relationships, community development, culture and social structure.
Scholarly Articles
Below are some scholarly articles about urban economics and design:
- Benneworth, Paul, and Mikolaj Herbst“The City as a Focus for Human Capital Migration: Towards a Dynamic Analysis of University Human Capital Contributions.” European Planning Studies, vol. 23, no. 3, Mar. 2015, pp. 452–74. EBSCOhost, https://outside.tra
- Le Galès, Patrick, and Paul Pierson“‘Superstar Cities’ & the Generation of Durable Inequality.” Daedalus, vol. 148, no. 3, 2019, pp. 46–72. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/48562997. Accessed 27 Dec. 2023.
- Pucher, John, and Ralph Buehler“Walking and Cycling for Healthy Cities.” Built Environment (1978-), vol. 36, no. 4, 2010, pp. 391–414. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23289966. Accessed 27 Dec. 2023.
- Tight, Miles and Moshe Givoni“The Role of Walking and Cycling in Advancing Healthy and Sustainable Urban Areas.” Built Environment (1978-), vol. 36, no. 4, 2010, pp. 384–90. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23289965. Accessed 27 Dec. 2023.
Websites & Primary Sources
News & Magazines
Log into your Transy Google account in a Chrome browser for full-text access to articles.
- The New York TimesActivate your free digital pass
- Wall Street JournalActivate your free digital pass
Videos
The videos below provide information about the role of cities in world history:
- Urbanization and MegacitiesInfobase and Pumpkin TV (Firm), directors. Urbanization and Megacities. Pumpkin TV, 2019.
- First civilizations: CitiesDashwood, Robin, et al., directors. First Civilizations. PBS, 2018.
- Vision in the Desert: Part 1Infobase and CNN (Firm), directors. CNN, 2019.
