Urban Design Ideals and Action

LEC #: 1 · READINGS: No readings assigned for the first session. · DISCUSSIONS: In what ways does urban design get done by democratic government, why, and what are the impacts of these policy tools on the city?

Salamon, Lester. “The New Governance and the Tools of Public Action: An Introduction.” Chapter 1 in The Tools of Government: A Guide to the New Governance . New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780195136654.

Cuthbert, Alexander. “Theory,” and “Politics.” Chapters 1 and 4 in The Form of Cities: Political Economy and Urban Design . Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. ISBN: 9781405116404.

Chapter 1 gives an overview of mainstream urban design theory, traces where political economy and critical theory have been most active in offering a differing viewpoint, and suggests how we should consolidate a framework from spatial political economy that can use various components derived from the mainstream position and offer it a coherence it lacks.

Chapter 4 discusses the relationship between politics and ideology since urban politics is influential at all levels of engagement in design. The built environment is the theater where power expresses itself through the medium of political ideologies that configure, and are embedded within spatial configurations, architectonic space, and the expression of symbolic capital. Together, the two chapters provide an overview of the political economy of urban design: definitions and theories, spatial political economy and urban design, politics and ideology, power-rights and laws, law as ideology, politics and urban planning, and the urban design of the public realm.

Schuman, Tony, and Elliott Sclar. “The Impact of Ideology on American Town Planning: From the Garden City to Battery Park City.” Chapter 18 in Planning the Twentieth-Century American City . Edited by Mary Corbin Sies and Christopher Silver. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780801851643.

Hise, Greg. “Building a City Where a City Belongs.” Chapter 6 in Magnetic Los Angeles: Planning the Twentieth-Century Metropolis . Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999. ISBN: 9780801862557.

Gottdiener, Mark, Claudia Collins, and David Dickens. “Local Politics and Community Interests.” Chapter 8 in Las Vegas: The Social Production of an All-American City . Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2000. ISBN: 9781577181378.

The chapter focuses on the unusual nature of local politics and the impact of a variety of community concerns such as growth, inequality, education, and the environment on the local political agenda. It is the change in this agenda that best characterizes the process of ’normalization’ in Las Vegas. The major corporate casino interests compete fiercely among themselves for their share of Las Vegas’s multi-billion dollar gambling/tourism profits. Furthermore, as the metropolitan region has increased in population and matured as a place of permanent residence, a number of other local constituencies, both business and community-oriented, together constitute an increasingly complex political environment in the Las Vegas Valley. The chapter provides an examination of this new political scene as further evidence of the ’normalization’ process in Las Vegas. This ’normalization’ process, while producing a new political culture that plays off residents against business needs, also contains contradictory tendencies produced by the organization of separate political interests, conflicts over resources, factions of capital, fragmentation of social bases and political jurisdictions, and a fundamental clash between the increasing, multi-dimensional needs of a local residents and a public ideology that limits local government to a weak role.

Frug, Gerald. “City Land Use.” Chapter 7 in City Making: Building Communities Without Building Walls . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780691007427.

City control over land use has been exercised principally through cities’ zoning power and through a combination of other city powers, such as condemnation, financial incentives, and municipal borrowing, mobilized to promote urban redevelopment. The chapter focuses on specific aspects of land use and urban design control such as zoning, redevelopment, and the New Urbanism, as well as prospects for change in regulations as they impact women, residents of the inner suburbs, the elderly, and African Americans. The author suggests how cities can be organized to take advantage of their capacity to foster community building by focusing on the transformation of cities’ land use, zoning, and redevelopment policies.

Frug, Gerald, and David Barron. “Land Use and Development.” Chapter 5 in City Bound: How States Stifle Urban Innovation . Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780801445149.

The chapter discusses city power to control the built environment-the physical aspects of a city’s growth and development. Cities do not make decisions about the built environment in a transparent way. Land use authority is embedded in a maddeningly complex array of statutes, judicial decisions, ownership structures, and public authorities. This complexity makes a city’s land use policy obscure to even to the most interested of observers. Yet, land use powers affect the look of a city in a way that no other city powers can. The chapter turns first to the basic rules governing city power over land use: the general power to zone and plan, the extent to which the state has excluded a portion of the city from city control, and the city’s ability to use innovative fiscal tools to promote its land use policy. The chapter then examines a city’s ability to provide affordable housing. Both of these aspects of a city’s power over land use are important no matter which vision of the future it adopts. As the chapter demonstrates, cities do have considerable power over land use. But the way that power is exercised is significantly influenced by the details of state law.

Barnett, Jonathan. “Shaping Cities Through Development Regulations.” Chapter 13 in Redesigning Cities: Principles, Practice, Implementation . Washington, DC: American Planning Association Planners Press, 2008. ISBN: 9781884829703.

Hall, Tony. “Urban Design as Spatial Policy,” and “Guides, Briefs, and Master Plans.” Chapters 2 and 3 in Turning a Town Around: A Proactive Approach to Urban Design . Oxford, United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing, 2008. ISBN: 9781405170239.

Today’s trend toward the renewal of cities, sociable places, higher standards of architecture and sustainable city center living is the business of urban design. In the United Kingdom, effective urban design is now at the forefront of government policy. However, even when the goals are clear, how do you make a start? If you are a planner, a city council member, or a developer, what do you have to do? How do you handle design within the planning process and ensure it is connected to other aspects of policy? The first part of the book deals with the nature of the recommended proactive approach. The second chapter in this part describes how urban design can, and should, be integrated with broader spatial policy. The preparation of physically prescriptive design guides, briefs, and master plans is dealt with in the third chapter.

Lang, Jon. “Piece-By-Piece Urban Design.” Chapter 9 in Urban Design: A Typology of Procedures and Products . Oxford, United Kingdom: Architectural Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780750666282.

Urban design is fundamentally concerned with the design of the three-dimensional qualities of the public realm of human settlements, taking into consideration the fourth dimension-time. Time is both a factor in the way an urban design is experienced and in its relationship to its cultural context at different moments in its history. “Piece-by-piece urban design” does not involve specific physical design projects but rather the design of policies that promote the development of certain building and urban types within specific precincts of a city. Piece-by-piece urban design involves the use of zoning and other planning instruments to achieve urban outcomes without using site-specific design guidelines or directives. The procedures employed are described in Chapter 9, along with the case studies of the theater and other districts, New York (1967-74), Central Bellevue, Washington: a new suburban downtown (1980-present), and Center City District, Philadelphia: a business improvement district (1990-1995).

Levine, Jonathan. “Developers, Planners, and Neighborhood Supply,” and “The Demand for Transportation and Land-Use Innovation.” Chapters 7 and 8 in Zoned Out: Regulation, Markets, and Choices in Transportation and Metropolitan Land-use . Washington, DC: Resources for the Future, 2005. ISBN: 9781933115146.

Chapters 7 and 8 report on empirical investigations into issues and outcomes on land use policies and markets from the supply side and the demand side, respectively, and find strong and consistent effects. Land developers would be expected to seek to develop more compactly than regulations allow. Metropolitan areas whose neighborhood alternatives include transit- and pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods should support a closer match between households’ transportation and land-use preferences and actual neighborhood choices than their more uniformly auto-oriented counterparts. States whose planning regimes limit municipalities’ prerogative to exclude denser housing forms ought to witness accelerated growth in these forms. Chapter 7 describes developers’ perceptions of alternative development, the Pennsylvania-New Jersey experiment in zoning, case studies of developer-planner interaction, and most significantly, the consequences of municipal land-use control on neighborhood design. Chapter 8 focuses on a comparative Atlanta-Boston study of neighborhood types and household choices to illustrate the preference-choice divide in neighborhood design.

Nello, Oriol. “Urban Dynamics, Public Policies, and Governance in the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona.” Chapter 2 in Transforming Barcelona . Edited by Tim Marshall. London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 2004. ISBN: 9780415288415.

In the last quarter of the twentieth century, Barcelona has undergone a radical transformation: its economic base, its social structure, the population’s habits, its physical structure and even its image have experienced accelerated changes that have been decisive and generally positive. Urban policies have had a significant role in this evolution, whose results have been spectacular enough to attract international attention. The purpose of this chapter is to provide some data and observations on the nature of these changes and their relationship to the public policies applied in the city.

Esteban, Juli. “The Planning Project: Bringing Value to the Periphery, Recovering the Centre. Chapter 7 in Transforming Barcelona . Edited by Tim Marshall. London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 2004. ISBN: 9780415288415.

The subject of this chapter is the planning effort that was and continues to be behind the urban transformation of Barcelona. This planning project has taken the form of a series of ideas and partial projects, with the participation of various actors and with different contextual references and specific goals. The chapter deals with various initiatives and documents that make up this sequence of projects, including the 1976 General Metropolitan Plan as an instrument for urban change, projects for public space: squares, parks, and improvements of some streets, projects for the Olympic games, creation of metropolitan parks, construction of road links, restoration and improvement of buildings, and the recycling of urban space through urban transformation projects since 1992.

Parolek, Daniel, Karen Parolek, and Paul Crawford. “Introduction,” and “Components.” Chapters 1 and 2 in Form-Based Codes: A Guide for Planners, Urban Designers, Municipalities, and Developers . Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2008. ISBN: 9780470049853.

A form-based code (FBC) is a method of regulating development to achieve a specific urban form. Form-based codes create a predictable public realm primarily by controlling physical form, with a lesser focus on land use, through city or county regulations. Based on their study of a wide variety of FBCs and related practices, as well as on personal experience implementing and administering them, the authors assess and describe what has happened to date while beginning to establish a common set of principles and standards for moving the practice of Form-Based Coding forward. The discuss the components of FBCs and the process by which they are created, and they present ten diverse case studies that represent the most advanced applications of this tool. The intention is for readers to use this book as a resources as they participate in the evolution of the practice and application of Form-Based Codes. The introduction describes why form-based codes can be highly effective, a background and brief history of zoning, and the new approach embodied by FBCs. The chapter entitled “Components” describes the regulating plan, public space standards, building form standards, frontage type standards, block standards, building types standards, architectural standards, and code administration. Form-based codes are at the cutting edge of describing the standards of urban design in the most clear and cohesive manner.

The Uptown Whittier Specific Plan was designed by one of the leading urban design firms in the United States, Moule & Polyzoides, and officially and legally adopted by the City of Whittier, California on November 18, 2008. The Plan is a pioneering effort in the southern California region to integrate multiple urban design objectives—improve the overall quality of design and development, conduct a transparent and public design process, generate economic development through investments in retail and diverse types of real estate development, leverage parking as a resource for a pedestrian-friendly district, estimate costs, funding, and phasing of implementation, and establish a long-term framework for Uptown through a regulating plan, development code, and design guidelines. The plan covers an area of approximately 185 acres and 35 city blocks, and was developed through a complex design and implementation process of 2-1/2 years.

Schuster, J. Mark, John de Monchaux, and Charles Riley II, eds. Preserving the Built Heritage: Tools for Implementation . Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1997. ISBN: 9780874518313.

Ben-Joseph, Eran, and Terry Szold, eds. Regulating Place: Standards and the Shaping of Urban America . New York, NY: Routledge, 2004. ISBN: 9780415948746.

Hood, Christopher. The Tools of Government . Chatham, NJ: Chatham House, 1986. ISBN: 9780934540520.

Lai, Richard Tseng-yu. Law in Urban Design and Planning: The Invisible Web . New York, NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1988. ISBN: 9780442258856.

Patterson, T. William. Land Use Planning: Techniques of Implementation . Malabar, FL: Krieger, 1988. ISBN: 9780898749441.

Salamon, Lester. The Tools of Government: A Guide to the New Governance . Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780195136654.

Stone, Deborah. Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making . New York, NY: W. W. Norton, 2001. ISBN: 9780393976250.

Bemelmans-Videc, Marie Louise, Ray Rist, and Evert Vedung, eds. Carrots, Sticks and Sermons: Policy Instruments and Their Evaluation . New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2003. ISBN: 9780765805461.

Lai, Richard Tseng-yu. “The Basis for Design Regulation.” Chapter 9 in Law in Urban Design and Planning .

Lai, Richard Tseng-yu. “The Origins,” and “Under the Constitution.” Parts I and II in Law in Urban Design and Planning.

Salamon, Lester. “The New Governance and the Tools of Public Action: An Introduction.” In Salamon, The Tools of Government , pp. 1-47.

Hood, Christopher. “Exploring Government’s Toolshed,” and “Government as a Tool-Kit.” Chapters 1 and 7 in Hood, The Tools of Government .

Vedung, Evert. “Policy Instruments: Typologies and Theories.” In Bemelmans-Videc, et al., Carrots, Sticks and Sermons .

Lessig, Lawrence. “Appendix.” In Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace . New York, NY: Basic Books, 2000. ISBN: 9780465039135.

de Monchaux, John, and J. Mark Schuster. “Five Things to Do.” In Schuster, et al., Preserving the Built Heritage .

Patterson, T. William. “The Context for Plan/Policy Implementation.” Chapter 1 in Land Use Planning .

Doherty, Patsy. Public Policy Instruments for Designing the Built Environment , M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 1986.

Zhanbin, Jiang. Preserving the Waterscape in Chinese Historical Canal Cities: Government Tools for Implementation , M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2003.

Leman, Christopher. “Direct Government.” In Salamon, The Tools of Government .

Bianca, Stephano. “Direct Government Involvement in Architectural Heritage Management: Legitimation, Limits, and Opportunities of Ownership and Operation.” In Schuster, et al., Preserving the Built Heritage .

“Federal Architecture: A Framework for Debate.” Washington, DC: National Endowment for the Arts, April 1974, pp. 1-53.

Musolf, Lloyd. “The Government Corporation Tool: Permutations and Possibilities.” Chapter 8 in Beyond Privatization : The Tools of Government Action . By Lester Salamon and Michael Lund. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press, 1989. ISBN: 9780877664543.

Stanton, Thomas, and Ronald Moe. “Government Corporations and Government-Sponsored Enterprises.” In Salamon, The Tools of Government .

Bressler, Mark. The City as Entrepreneur: A Legal Rationale for Sharing the Profits of Downtown Development , M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 1985.

Peters, John. The Desirability of an Indian Housing Authority for Massachusetts , M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 1987.

Throsby, David. “Making Preservation Happen: The Pros and Cons of Regulation.” In Schuster, et al., Preserving the Built Heritage .

Pearce, B. J. “Property Rights vs. Development Control: A Preliminary Evaluation of Alternative Planning Policy Instruments.” Town Planning Review 52, no. 1 (1981): 47-60.

Baer, W. C. “Toward Design of Regulations for the Built Environment.” Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 24 (1997): 37-57.

Select and read a couple of chapters from:

Ben-Joseph and Szold, Regulating Place: Standards and the Shaping of Urban America .

Fogelson, Robert. “The Sacred Skyline: The Battle over Height Limits.” Chapter 3 in Downtown: Its Rise and Fall, 1880-1950 . New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780300098273. (There is quite a bit of interesting material on parking and land-use regulations scattered throughout this book.)

Patterson, T. William. “Zoning,” “Subdivision Regulations,” and “Supplemental Regulations and Tax Policies.” Chapters 2-4 in Land Use Planning.

Cook, Robert. Zoning for Downtown Urban Design: How Cities Control Development . Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1980, particularly chapter 14, “Final Thoughts.” ISBN: 9780669036428.

“Development Control: Policy and Practice.” Circular 22/80, UK Department of the Environment, HMSO, 28 November 1980.

Lassar, Terry Jill. “Zoning as Shaper of Building Design.” Chapter 5 in Carrots and Sticks: New Zoning Downtown . Washington, DC: Urban Land Institute, 1989. ISBN: 9780874206937.

Salamon, Lester, “Economic Regulation”, and Peter J. May, “Social Regulation.” In Salamon, The Tools of Government .

Stone, Deborah. “Rules.” Chapter 12 in Policy Paradox .

Lemaire, Donald. “The Stick: Regulation as a Tool of Government.” In Bemelmans-Videc, et al., Carrots, Sticks and Sermons .

Kohr, Todd. From Form to Function: An Evaluation of the Effectiveness and Potential of Form-Based Zoning Codes , M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2004.

Nally, Thomas. Design Review: Alternative Models of Administration , M.C.P. Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, September 1977.

Mangle, Katie. Growth Management Strategies in the American West: A Case Study of Intergovernmental Collaboration in Colorado , M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 1996.

Riesman, Jean. Rules of the Game: Rezoning Boston 1984-1989 , M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 1990.

Schonberger, Benjamin. Locally Grown: Statewide Land Use Planning in Northern New England , M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2000.

Solzhenitsyn, Stephan. Parcel-by-parcel Urban Design: A Strategy Toward Clarifying Rights and Restrictions in the Redevelopment of Center-city Moscow , M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 1997.

Tham, Karen. Singapore: Design Guidelines for an Urban Waterfront , M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 1991.

Jacobson, Alexandra. The Effectiveness of Zoning in Solidifying Downtown Retail , M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2001.

Sellers-Garcia, Oliver. Regulating New Construction in Historic Areas , M.C.P. Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006.

Mehta, Shilpa. Form-Based Zoning: What Place is this Code? M.C.P. Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006.

Shaw, Jeremy. Standard Values: Change in Urban Arterial Street Design , M.C.P. Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007.

Pearce, B. J. “Instruments for Land Policy: A Classification.” Urban Law and Policy 3 (1980): 115-155.

———. “Property Rights vs. Development Control: A Preliminary Evaluation of Alternative Planning Policy Instruments.” Town Planning Review 52, no. 1 (1981): 47-60.

Costonis, John. “The Redefinition of Property Rights as a Tool for Historic Preservation.” In Schuster, et al., Preserving the Built Heritage .

Schnidman, Frank. “Transferable Development Rights (TDR).” In Windfalls for Wipeouts: Land Value Capture and Compensation . Edited by Donald Hagman and Dean Misczynski. Chicago, IL: American Society of Planning Officials, 1977, pp. 532-522 and 656-660. ISBN: 9780918286116.

Stone, Deborah. “Rights.” Chapter 14 in Policy Paradox .

Cordes, Joseph. “Corrective Taxes, Charges, and Tradable Permits.” In Salamon, The Tools of Government .

Holleran, Michael. Remnant Rights of Way as a Preservation Issue , M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 1985.

Tuttle, William. Limited Development as a Tool for Agricultural Preservation in Massachusetts , M.C.P. and SMArchS Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1988.

Schuster, J. Mark. “Inciting Preservation.” In Schuster, et al., Preserving the Built Heritage .

Lai, Richard Tseng-yu. “The Web of Fiscal Policy and Taxation.” Chapter 13 in Law in Urban Design and Planning .

Lefcoe, George. “How Taxes Affect Urban Design: And How to Make Them Do a Better Job of It.” Real Estate Law Journal 4, no. 3 (1976): 244-262.

Kayden, Jerold. “Using and Misusing Law to Design the Public Realm.” In Ben-Joseph and Szold, Regulating Place: Standards and the Shaping of Urban America , pp. 115-140.

Kayden, Jerold. “History,” “Law: Design, Operation, and Enforcement,” and “Record.” Chapters 1-3 in Privately Owned Public Space: The New York Experience . New York, NY: Wiley, 2000, pp. 7-59. ISBN: 9780471362579.

Beam, David, and Timothy Conlan, “Grants;” Thomas Stanton, “Loans and Loan Guarantees;” Christopher Howard, “Tax Expenditures;” and E. Eugene Steuerle and Eric Twombly, “Vouchers.” In Salamon, The Tools of Government .

Kayden, Jerold. “Incentive Zoning in New York City: A Cost-Benefit Analysis.” Lincoln Policy Roundtable, Policy Analysis Series no. 201. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 1978.

Patterson, T. William. Land Use Planning , pp. 130-146.

Leeuuw, Frans. “The Carrot: Subsidies as a Tool of Government—Theory and Practice.” In Bemelmans-Videc, et al., Carrots, Sticks and Sermons .

Stone, Deborah. “Inducements.” Chapter 11 in Policy Paradox .

Gihring, Thomas. “Incentive Property Taxation: A Potential Tool for Urban Growth Management.” Journal of the American Planning Association 65, no. 1 (1999): 62-79.

Hager, Connie, and S. Jerome Pratter. Financial Incentives for Better Design . Washington, DC: National League of Cities, Office of Membership Services, 1982.

Geng, Lining. The Application of Information and Incentives as Tools to Promote Green Affordable Housing Development , M.C.P. and SMArchS Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2004.

Berry, Robin L. Can the Market Create What the City Wants? Boston’s Midtown Cultural District , M.C.P. and SMRED Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Center for Real Estate Development, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2000.

Fischer, Michael. Real Estate Development Exactions in Boston: Implications for Linkage and Planning in the South Boston Seaport District , M.C.P. and SMRED Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Center for Real Estate Development, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1999.

Wong, Debra Gail. Modeling Historic Preservation Tax Incentives , M.C.P. Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, September 1985.

Schuster, J. Mark. “Information as a Tool of Preservation Action.” In Schuster, et al., Preserving the Built Heritage .

O’Hare, Michael. “Environmental Management.” In American Society: Public and Private Responsibilities . Edited by Winthrop Knowlton and Richard Zeckhauser. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger, 1987, pp. 99-135. ISBN: 9780887301292.

Schuster, J. Mark. “Making a List: Information as a Tool of Historic Preservation.” In Economics of the Arts and Culture: Invited Papers of the 12th International Conference of the Association of Cultural Economics International . Edited by Victor Ginsburgh. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2004.

Vedung, Evert, Frans C. J., and van der Doelen. “The Sermon: Information Programs in the Public Policy Process—Choice, Effects, and Evaluation.” In Bemelmans-Videc, et al., Carrots, Sticks and Sermons .

Owen, Stephen. “The Role of Village Design Statements in Fostering a Locally Responsive Approach to Village Planning and Design in the UK.” Journal of Urban Design 3, no. 3 (1988): 359-380.

Hood, Christopher. “Advice, Information, Persuasion.” Chapter 2 in Hood, The Tools of Government .

Stone, Deborah. “Facts.” Chapter 13 in Policy Paradox .

Rosen, Jeffrey. “The Social Police: Following the Law, Because You’d Be Too Embarrassed Not To.” The New Yorker , October 20 and 27, 1997, pp. 170-181. This is a layperson’s introduction to the literature on law and social norms; for a more formal treatment, see Eric Posner, Law and Social Norms (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000).

Weiss, Janet. “Public Information.” In Salamon, The Tools of Government .

The use of information as a tool of government has been receiving increasing attention in the environmental policy literature. Here are three examples. (Note that there is a similar literature on product labeling for health purposes.)

Fung, Archon, and Dara O’Rourke. “Reinventing Environmental Regulation from the Grassroots Up: Explaining and Expanding the Success of the Toxics Release Inventory.” Environmental Management 25, no. 2 (2000): 115-127.

Rubik, Frieder, and Paolo Frankl, eds. The Future of Eco-Labelling: Making Environmental Product Information Systems Effective . Sheffield: Greenleaf Publishing, 2005.

Kuhre, W. Lee. ISO 14020s: Efficient and Accurate Environmental Marketing Procedures . Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996. ISBN: 9780132521499.

Another literature opened up by thinking about information as a tool of government is the extensive literature on place-based marketing and branding. See, for example:

Morgan, Nigel, Annette Pritchard, and Roger Pride, eds. Destination Branding: Creating the Unique Destination Proposition . 2nd ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2004. ISBN: 9780750649940.

Kearns, Gerry, and Chris Philo, eds. Selling Places: The City as Cultural Capital, Past and Present . Oxford, UK: Pergamon Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780080413853.

Ashworth, G. J., and H. Voogd. Selling the City: Marketing Approaches in Public Sector Urban Planning . London, UK: Belhaven Press, 1990. ISBN: 9781852930080.

Lampkin, Martha. Intervention in the City Building Network: An Evaluation of the A.I.A.’s R/UDAT Program , M.C.P. and MArchAS Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1981.

Reitman, Alexandra Naming as a Mechanism for Neighborhood Revitalization , M.C.P. Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2004.

Vincent, Lieza. When Home Becomes World Heritage: The Case of Aleppo, Syria , M.C.P. and SMArchS Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2004.

McCarthy, Danielle. Designation: The Use of Information-Based Strategies in Planning and Preservation , M.C.P. and SMArchS Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2005.

Wells, Anna. The Boston Indicators Project: The Role of Indicators in Supporting Environmental Efforts in the Boston Metropolitan Region , M.C.P. Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006.

Morton, Elizabeth. Heritage Partnerships: National Designation, Regional Promotion, and the Role of Local Preservation Organizations , Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006.

Hood, Christopher. “Appraising Government’s Tools,” and “A Changing Mix of Government Tools.” Chapters 8-9 in Hood, The Tools of Government , pp. 133-168.

Schuster, J. Mark. “Choosing the Right Tool(s) for the Task.” In Schuster, et al., Preserving the Built Heritage .

van der Doelen, Frans C. J., “The ‘Give-and-Take’ Packaging of Policy Instruments: Optimizing Legitimacy and Effectiveness,” and Ray Rist, “Choosing the Right Policy Instrument at the Right Time: The Contextual Challenges of Selection and Implementation.” In Bemelmans-Videc, et al., Carrots, Sticks and Sermons , pp. 129-146 and 149-163.

Peters, B. Guy. “The Politics of Tool Choice”; Stephen Rathgeb Smith and Helen Ingram, “Policy Tools and Democracy”; and Lester Salamon, “The Tools Approach and the New Governance: Conclusion and Implications.” In Salamon, The Tools of Government , pp. 552-564, 565-584, and 600-610.

Eury, Robert, and Gary Hack. “Keys to Effective Urban Environmental Design,” and “A Catalog of Techniques for Urban Environmental Design.” Parts 3 and 4 in Lessons from Local Experience . U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research, Office of Community Planning and Development. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1983.

Vettel, Steven. “San Francisco’s Downtown Plan: Environmental and Urban Design Values in Central Business District Regulation.” Ecology Law Quarterly (1985): 511-566.

Punter, John. “San Francisco.” Chapter 4 in Design Guidelines in American Cities: A Review of Design Policies and Guidance in Five West Coast Cities . Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1999. ISBN: 9780853238935.

Bender, Richard, and Todd Bressi. “Design Review: A Review of Processes, Procedures, and Potential.” Berkeley, CA: Center for Environmental Design Research, March 1989, pp. 1-69.

Schuster, J. Mark. “The Role of Design Review in Affecting the Quality of Urban Design: The Architect’s Point of View.” Journal of Architectural and Planning Research 14, no. 3 (1997): 209-224.

Scheer, Brenda. “The Debate on Design Review.” From Design Review: Challenging Urban Aesthetic Control (1994), reprinted in The Urban Design Reader . Edited by Michael Larice and Elizabeth Macdonald. London, UK: Routledge, 2006, pp. 490-499. ISBN: 9780415333863.

Rawn, William. “The Boston Federal Courthouse: The Role of the Boston Civic Design Commission.” In Federal Buildings in Context: The Role of Design Review . Edited by J. Carter Brown. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1995, pp. 95-104. ISBN: 9780300076981.

Donham, Thayer. Passing Judgment: The Interaction Between Local and Federal Design Review , M.C.P. Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2000.

Kou Chen Kao, Evaluating the Impact of Design Review on Real Estate Development: A Boston Sampling-1980-1990 , SMRED Thesis, Center for Real Estate Development, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1991.

Sellers-Garcia, Oliver, Regulating New Construction in Historic Areas , M.C.P. Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006.

Hood, Christopher. “Intellectual Obsolescence and Intellectual Makeovers: Reflections on the Tools of Government after Two Decades.” Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions 20, no. 1 (2007): 127-144.

Ducker, Richard, and David Owens. “A Smart Growth Toolbox for Local Governments.” Popular Government 66, no. 1 (2000): 29-41.