Sonia A. Hirt – författare

"[Hirt] provides a succinct overview of the history of zoning in the US. She compares zoning in the US to five European countries―England, France, Sweden, Germany, and Russia―to highlight its distinctiveness. The story of American zoning reveals its origins in the early-20th century, fashioned to maintain property values and protect Americans' investments in their homes. The book tells the story of how local, state, and federal governments have contributed to the use of zoning to preserve the single-family detached home, connecting zoning to other policies, such as transportation and home loan financing. This is a terrific book for collections on housing, land use, zoning, and law."―CHOICEWhy are American cities, suburbs, and towns so distinct? Compared to European cities, those in the United States are characterized by lower densities and greater distances; neat, geometric layouts; an abundance of green space; a greater level of social segregation reflected in space; and-perhaps most noticeably-a greater share of individual, single-family detached housing. In Zoned in the USA, Sonia A. Hirt argues that zoning laws are among the important but understudied reasons for the cross-continental differences.Hirt shows that rather than being imported from Europe, U.S. municipal zoning law was in fact an institution that quickly developed its own, distinctly American profile. A distinct spatial culture of individualism-founded on an ideal of separate, single-family residences apart from the dirt and turmoil of industrial and agricultural production-has driven much of municipal regulation, defined land-use, and, ultimately, shaped American life.Hirt explores municipal zoning from a comparative and international perspective, drawing on archival resources and contemporary land-use laws from England, Germany, France, Australia, Russia, Canada, and Japan to challenge assumptions about American cities and the laws that guide them.

"[Hirt] provides a succinct overview of the history of zoning in the US. She compares zoning in the US to five European countries―England, France, Sweden, Germany, and Russia―to highlight its distinctiveness. The story of American zoning reveals its origins in the early-20th century, fashioned to maintain property values and protect Americans' investments in their homes. The book tells the story of how local, state, and federal governments have contributed to the use of zoning to preserve the single-family detached home, connecting zoning to other policies, such as transportation and home loan financing. This is a terrific book for collections on housing, land use, zoning, and law."―CHOICEWhy are American cities, suburbs, and towns so distinct? Compared to European cities, those in the United States are characterized by lower densities and greater distances; neat, geometric layouts; an abundance of green space; a greater level of social segregation reflected in space; and-perhaps most noticeably-a greater share of individual, single-family detached housing. In Zoned in the USA, Sonia A. Hirt argues that zoning laws are among the important but understudied reasons for the cross-continental differences.Hirt shows that rather than being imported from Europe, U.S. municipal zoning law was in fact an institution that quickly developed its own, distinctly American profile. A distinct spatial culture of individualism-founded on an ideal of separate, single-family residences apart from the dirt and turmoil of industrial and agricultural production-has driven much of municipal regulation, defined land-use, and, ultimately, shaped American life.Hirt explores municipal zoning from a comparative and international perspective, drawing on archival resources and contemporary land-use laws from England, Germany, France, Australia, Russia, Canada, and Japan to challenge assumptions about American cities and the laws that guide them.

Contemporary Urban Planning, 12e provides students with an unvarnished and in‑depth introduction to the historic, economic, political, legal, ideological, and environmental factors affecting urban planning today.Planning is a highly political activity. Urban and regional planning decisions often involve large sums of money, both public and private, with the potential to deliver large benefits to some and losses to others. The extensively revised edition of this beloved text tackles the most pressing recent issues in urban development, including:current demographic, technological, and lifestyle changes and the possibility for a major turn toward reurbanization/urban revitalization after decades of decentralizationan expanded consideration of contemporary means of public participation in planningthe impact of contemporary social movements on planning, and the rising importance of social equity as a major planning objectivethe affordable housing shortage facing cities in many large U.S. metropolitan areasmaking cities more adaptable to micro‑mobilityenvironmental goals and the role of planners in responding to global climate change, current public‑health challenges, and major environmental catastrophes andthe effect of varied applications of land use controls and other planning policies in different countries and under different political regimes, with case study examples from the UK, France, Eastern Europe, China, Asia, Africa, and Latin AmericaThis thoroughly updated new edition also benefits from resources to help classroom instruction, both in the text and online. These include discussion and multiple‑choice questions, and links for students to online supplemental readings, websites, and media sources. Contemporary Urban Planning is an essential resource for students, city planners, and all who are concerned with the nature of contemporary urban development problems.Visit the Instructor and Student Resources website: www.routledge.com/cw/levy

Contemporary Urban Planning, 12e provides students with an unvarnished and in‑depth introduction to the historic, economic, political, legal, ideological, and environmental factors affecting urban planning today.Planning is a highly political activity. Urban and regional planning decisions often involve large sums of money, both public and private, with the potential to deliver large benefits to some and losses to others. The extensively revised edition of this beloved text tackles the most pressing recent issues in urban development, including:current demographic, technological, and lifestyle changes and the possibility for a major turn toward reurbanization/urban revitalization after decades of decentralizationan expanded consideration of contemporary means of public participation in planningthe impact of contemporary social movements on planning, and the rising importance of social equity as a major planning objectivethe affordable housing shortage facing cities in many large U.S. metropolitan areasmaking cities more adaptable to micro‑mobilityenvironmental goals and the role of planners in responding to global climate change, current public‑health challenges, and major environmental catastrophes andthe effect of varied applications of land use controls and other planning policies in different countries and under different political regimes, with case study examples from the UK, France, Eastern Europe, China, Asia, Africa, and Latin AmericaThis thoroughly updated new edition also benefits from resources to help classroom instruction, both in the text and online. These include discussion and multiple‑choice questions, and links for students to online supplemental readings, websites, and media sources. Contemporary Urban Planning is an essential resource for students, city planners, and all who are concerned with the nature of contemporary urban development problems.Visit the Instructor and Student Resources website: www.routledge.com/cw/levy

Iron Curtains has been awarded Honorable Mention for the 2013 ASEEES Harvard Davis Center Book Prize! The prize is sponsored by Harvard University's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and is awarded annually by the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, for an outstanding monograph published on Russia, Eurasia, or Eastern Europe in anthropology, political science, sociology, or geography.Utilizing research conducted primarily with residents of Sofia, Bulgaria, Iron Curtains: Gates, Suburbs, and Privatization of Space in the Post-socialist City explores the human dimension of new city-building that has emerged in East Europe. Features original data, illustrations, and theory on the process of privatization of resources in societies undergoing fundamental socio-economic transformations, such as those in Eastern EuropeRepresents the sole in-depth monograph on contemporary urbanism in Southeast EuropeMakes a broader statement on issues of urbanism in Europe and other parts of the world while highlighting the complex connections between cultures and cities