"Hank lived by the credo 'first listen, then design.'" —Scott Bernstein, Founder and Chief Strategy + Innovation Officer, Center for Neighborhood Technology Hank Dittmar was a globally recognized urban planner, advocate, and policy advisor. He wrote extensively on a wide range of topics, including architectural criticism, community planning, and transportation policy over his long and storied career. In My Kind of City, Dittmar has organized his selected writings into ten sections with original introductions. His observations range on scale from local ("My Favorite Street: Seven Dials, Covent Garden, London") to national ("Post Truth Architecture in the Age of Trump") and global ("Architects are Critical to Adapting our Cities to Climate Change"). Andrés Duany writes of Hank in the book foreword, "He has continued to search for ways to engage place, community and history in order to avoid the tempting formalism of plans." The range of topics covered in My Kind of City reflects the breadth of Dittmar's experience in working for better cities for people. Common themes emerge in the engaging prose including Dittmar's belief that improving our cities should not be left to the "experts"; his appreciation for the beautiful and the messy; and his rare combination of deep expertise and modesty. As Lynn Richards, CEO of Congress for the New Urbanism expresses in the preface, "Hank's writing is smart without being elitist, witty and poetic, succinct and often surprising." My Kind of City captures a visionary planner's spirit, eye for beauty, and love for the places where we live.

My Kind of City: Collected Essays of Hank Dittmar

Arts & Photography

Dittmar, Hank

Architecture

Island Press

<div>Some utopian plans have shaped our cities --from England's New Towns and Garden Cities to the Haussmann plan for Paris and the L'Enfant plan for Washington, DC. But these grand plans are the exception, and seldom turn out as envisioned by the utopian planner. Inviting city neighborhoods are more often works of improvisation on a small scale. This type of bottom-up development gives cities both their character and the ability to respond to sudden change. Hank Dittmar, urban planner, friend of artists and creatives, sometime rancher, "high priest of town planning" to the Prince of Wales, believed in letting small things happen. Dittmar concluded that big plans were often the problem. Looking at the global cities of the world, he saw a crisis of success, with gentrification and global capital driving up home prices in some cities, while others decayed for lack of investment. &nbsp; In DIY City, Dittmar explains why individual initiative, small-scale business, and small development matter, using lively stories from his own experience and examples from recent history, such as the revival of Camden Lock in London&nbsp;and the nascent rebirth of Detroit. DIY City, Dittmar's last original work, captures the lessons he learned throughout the course of his varied career--from transit-oriented development to Lean Urbanism--that can be replicated to create cities where people can flourish. &nbsp; DIY City is a timely response to the challenges many cities face today, with a short supply of affordable housing, continued gentrification, and offshore investment. Dittmar's answer to this crisis is to make Do-It-Yourself the norm rather than the exception&nbsp;by removing the barriers to small-scale building and local business. The message of DIY City can offer hope to anyone who cares about cities. &nbsp;</div>

DIY City: The Collective Power of Small Actions

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

As the environment becomes more fragile, existing transportation networks are more and more strained. Issues such as food miles and embodied energy in goods and products will become far more significant. Personal carbon quotas are likely to force a re-evaluation of our current lifestyles and single trips will carry greater levels of expectation. Casual long distance travel may be socially decried. Edge Futures are a series of five books that explore the impact that climate change will have on different aspects of our lives in the future. They are available to order as individual titles or as a complete set.The Edge is an innovative and creative think-tank, sponsored by building industry professions, that seeks to stimulate public interest in policy questions that affect the built environment and to inform and influence public opinion.Hank Dittmar is Chief Executive for The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment.

Transport and Neighbourhood (Edge Futures)

Black Dog Architecture

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Books by Dittmar, Hank