Author(s): Anas, Alex; Arnott, Richard; Small, Kenneth A. | Abstract: An interview with Chicago's current mayor, Richard M. Daley:'New York is too big this way,' the mayor says, raising a thick hand over his head. Stretching both arms out at his sides, he adds, 'Los Angeles is too big this way. All the other cities are too small. We're just right.' (Bailey and Coleman, 1996, p. 6)Mayor Daley is catering to a widespread fascination with the roles that urban size and structure play in people's lives. Academic as well as other observers have long sought explanations for urban development patterns and criteria by which to judge their desirability. Furthermore, as we shall see, understanding the organization of cities yields insights about economy-wide growth processes and sheds light on economic concepts of long standing interest: returns to scale, monopolistic competition, vertical integration, technological innovation, innovation diffusion, and international specialization. Cities also are prime illustrations of some newer academic interests such as complex structural evolution and self-organization.

/pdf/urban-spatial-structure-1lxd6wl2lo.pdf

Urban spatial structure.

https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/2958224/why%20do%20the%20poor%20live%20in%20cities.pdf?sequence=2

Why do the poor live in cities? The role of public transportation ✩

Scholars spanning a variety of disciplines have studied the ways in which contact with natural environments may impact human well-being. We review the effects of such nature experience on human cognitive function and mental health, synthesizing work from environmental psychology, urban planning, the medical literature, and landscape aesthetics. We provide an overview of the prevailing explanatory theories of these effects, the ways in which exposure to nature has been considered, and the role that individuals' preferences for nature may play in the impact of the environment on psychological functioning. Drawing from the highly productive but disparate programs of research in this area, we conclude by proposing a system of categorization for different types of nature experience. We also outline key questions for future work, including further inquiry into which elements of the natural environment may have impacts on cognitive function and mental health; what the most effective type, duration, and frequency of contact may be; and what the possible neural mechanisms are that could be responsible for the documented effects.

The impacts of nature experience on human cognitive function and mental health.

Beyond toxicity: human health and the natural environment.

It is concluded that an environment devoid of Nature may act as a "discord", i.e., have a negative effect. While the term mismatch is used for any difference between present living conditions and the environment of evolutionary adaptation, discords are mismatches with a potentially undesirable impact on health or quality of life. The problem is partly due to the visual absence of plants, and may be ameliorated by adding elements of Nature, e.g., by creating parks, by offering a view through windows, and by potted plants. The conclusion is based on an evaluation of some fifty relevant empirical studies.

/pdf/biophilia-does-visual-contact-with-nature-impact-on-health-43art76mgr.pdf

Biophilia: does visual contact with nature impact on health and well-being?

PART 1: A CITY DIVIDED 1. Who Built the Metropolis? 2. Common Ideas and Experiences PART 2: THE LARGE INSTITUTIONS 3. The Walking City 4. The Street Railways 5. Other Services to Home Builders 6. Common Patterns of Decision PART 3: THE THREE TOWNS 7. The Discipline of History and Geography 8. The Three Towns, 1870-1900 PART 4: A SELECTIVE MELTING POT 9. The Street Railway and Class Building Patterns 10. The 1900 Segregation PART 5: LEAVE OF SMALL PATTERNS 11. Central Dorchester 12. Tremont Street District 13. Roxbury Highlands PART 6: REGULATION WITHOUT LAWS 14. The Home Builders 15. The Grid Street and Frontage Lot 16. Suburban Architecture PART 7: THE CONSEQUENCES Appendix: A Local Historian's Guide to Social Statistics Appendix B: Tables Bibliographical Note Notes Index

Streetcar Suburbs: The Process of Growth in Boston, 1870-1900

Acknowledgments Intorduction to the Second Edition PART ONE: THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY TOWN 1- The Environment of Private Opportunity 2- War and the Limits of the Tradition PART TWO: THE BIG CITY 1830-1860 3- Spatial Patterns of Rapid Growth 4- Industrialization 5- The Specialization of Leadership 6- Municipal Institutions 7- Riots and the Restoration of Public Order PART THREE: THE INDUSTRIAL METROPOLIS 8- The Structure of the Metropolis 9- Some Metropolitan Districts 10- The Industrial Metropolis as an Inheritance Bibliography of Recent Philadelphia Books Notes to Tables in Text

The private city : Philadelphia in three periods of its growth

The Private City: Philadelphia in Three Periods of Its Growth

Restorative gardens for the sick, which were a vital part of the healing process from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century, provided ordered settings in which patients could begin to heal, both physically and mentally. In this book, a landscape architect, a physician and a historian examine the history and role of restorative gardens to show why it is important to again integrate nature into the institutional - and largely factorylike - settings of modern health care facilities. The authors present the history of restorative gardens and studies six American health care centers that cherish the role of their gardens in the therapeutic process. These institutions are examined in detail: community hospitals in Wasau, Wisconisn, and Monterey, California; a full-care mental institution in Philadelphia; a nursing home in Queens; a facility for rehabilitative medicine in New York City; and a hospice in Houston. In their comprehensive review the authors suggest that contemporary scientific understanding clearly recognizes the beneficial physiological effects of garden environments on patients' well-being. The book ends with a plea to make gardens - rather than the shopping mall atria so often seen in newly renovated hospitals - a vital part of the medical milieu.

Sam Bass Warner

Papers

Streetcar Suburbs: The Process of Growth in Boston, 1870-1900

The private city : Philadelphia in three periods of its growth

The Private City: Philadelphia in Three Periods of Its Growth

The Private City: Philadelphia in Three Periods of Its Growth

Restorative Gardens: The Healing Landscape