Perverse Cities

Analytical and detailed in its approach and consistently daring in challenging accepted views of the causes of and solutions for urban sprawl.

Ken Greenberg, in an interview with Henry Aubin:

An even greater restraint on a back-to-the-city movement is cost ... Eventually, rising gas prices will reduce the disparity, but probably not enough. How do you reduce the gap?

Greenberg points to a fascinating recent book by a fellow Toronto urban planner, Pamela Blais.

The book, Perverse Cities, implies that the sort of sprawl-limiting rules that the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal is now considering are useful but far from sufficient to ensure built-up areas will become more densely developed. “More compact development cannot simply be regulated into existence,” she writes ...

Read more:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/encourage+growing+back+city+trend/4891444/story.html

David Amborski, Professor, School of Urban and Regional Planning, Ryerson University:
This highly practical book will give urban policy makers a better understanding of the implications of a number of tools available to them. It is a welcome addition to the debate over the use of regulatory policy as opposed to tax/subsidy measures to address land use issues and outcomes.