Department of Town and Regional Planning
Sheffield S10 2TN
Tel: (Dept. office) +44 (0)114 222 6900
Fax: +44 (0)114 2226947
PREPARATORY READING FOR TOWN AND REGIONAL PLANNING COURSES
(2013 ENTRY)
Whilst there is no requirement for you to undertake reading prior to your studies
at the University of Sheffield, we would encourage you to explore some of the
relevant literature before you arrive, using your local library. We recommend that
you do not purchase books until you arrive at university. Here is a selection of
useful (and interesting) sources:
Key texts:
Adams D and Tiesdell S (2013) Shaping Places: Urban Planning, Design,
Development London: Routledge.
New textbook that explores urban planning with a strong focus on how it relates to
property markets.
Gehl J (2010) Cities for People Island Press, Washington.
Hall T (2006) Urban Geography (2nd Edition) Routledge.
An excellent introduction to contemporary cities and urban policy, this book will be useful
throughout the course.
Healey P (2010) Making Better Places: The Planning Project in the Twenty-First
Century Palgrave-Macmillan, Basingstoke.
Henson R (2006) The Rough Guide to Climate Change Rough Guide Ltd.
LeGates RT and Stout F (2007) The City Reader Fourth Edition, Routledge, Oxford.
An excellent introduction of classic and contemporary writings on cities.
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Morris A E J (1994) History of Urban Form 3rd Ed, London: George Godwin.
Rydin Y (2011) The Purpose of Planning: Creating Sustainable Towns and Cities
The Policy Press, Bristol.
Ward S (2004) Planning and Urban Change Chapman.
Ward’s book offers a historical view of planning and urban development. It is shorter
than Cullingworth and Nadin, and therefore a book that you might read from cover to
cover.
Other useful texts:
Barton H (2002) Sustainable Communities: The Potential for Eco-neighbourhoods
Earthscan, London.
Berners Lee M (2010) How Bad Are Bananas?: The Carbon Footprint of Everything
Profile Books, London.
Briggs, A (1963) Victorian Cities Penguin, London.
Fainstein S (2010) The Just City Cornell University Press.
Gilg A (2005) Planning in Britain: Understanding and Evaluating the Post-War
System: Understanding and Evaluating the Post- War System Sage, London.
Glaeser, E (2011) The Triumph of the City Penguin Press, London.
Greed, C (2004) Introducing Planning Continuum International.
Hall P and Tewdwr Jones M (2010) Urban and Regional Planning Routledge,
Oxford.
Hanley L (2007) Estates Granta, London.
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Hatherley O (2012) A New Kind of Bleak: Journeys Through Urban Britain Verso
Books, London.
This is a polemical account which provides a good indication of some of the key
contemporary debates and controversies within planning.
Hatherley O (2010) A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain Verson, London.
Howard E Garden Cities of Tomorrow (various editions)
This is a classic text from one of the founding fathers of town planning, written in the
early Twentieth-Century.
Hunt T (2004) Building Jerusalem: The Rise and Fall of the Victorian City
Weidenfield and Nicolson, London.
This is an excellent account which demonstrates the importance of understanding the
historical development of cities.
Jacobs, J (1961) The Death and Life of Great American Cities Vintage, New York.
Jordison, S and D Kieran (2003) Crap Towns: The 50 Worst Places to Live in the
UK Boxtree, London.
A provocative, frequently comic, polemic that opens up debate about the nature and
quality of place, our prejudices and our thoughts about people who live in such places.
Lynas M (2006) Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet Harper Books,
London.
Lynch, K (1960) Image of the City MIT Press.
Minton A (2012) Ground Control Penguin, London.
This is a polemical account which provides a good indication of some of the key
contemporary debates and controversies within planning.
Platt E (2001) Leadville: A Biography of the A40 Picador
Sandercock L (1997) Towards Cosmopolis: Planning for Multicultural Cities Wiley.
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Cullingworth B and Nadin V (2006) Town and Country Planning in the UK
Routledge, Oxford.
This is a highly readable introduction to the town and country planning framework in the
UK. It is a book to delve into rather than read from cover to cover, but will be useful
throughout your course. Please note it is rather out of date and does not include
information about the current planning framework in the UK.
You might also like to look at information on websites:
Design Council (CABE) http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/CABE/
Royal Town Planning Institute (http://www.rtpi.org.uk/)
Town and Country Planning Association (www.tcpa.org.uk/)
Urban Design Compendium (http://www.urbandesigncompendium.co.uk)
Search these academic journal websites for papers that interest you:

Journal of Planning History: http://jph.sagepub.com/

Planning Perspectives Journal: http://tandfonline.com/toc/rppe20/current

Planning Theory and
Practice:http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rptp20/current#.UfaWLm0w_QY

Urban Studies: http://usj.sagepub.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/victorian_britain/social_conditions/victorian_urba
n_planning_01.shtml
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110118095356/http:/www.cabe.org.uk
/articles/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-victorian-city
National Planning Policy Guidance:
Government planning website for legislation, policy guidance and research
related to
cities and research:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-communities-andlocal-government
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Look particularly at these:
The National Planning Policy Framework, which sets out the Government’s
planning policies for England and how these are expected to be applied:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/60
77/2116950.pdf
The updated State of the English Cities report, the most comprehensive survey
ever undertaken of English towns and cities:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/updating-the-evidence-base-onenglish-cities
Films/Novels:
Al Gore (2006) An Inconvenient Truth (dir: Davis Guggenheim)
Bladerunner (1982) (dir: Ridley Scott)
A classic sci-fi film but one which presents a disturbing dystopian vision of a decayed
urban future, in contrast to the modernist aesthetic that dominated the late 20 th Century.
Bread and Roses (2000) (dir: Ken Loach)
A critique of social and economic inequalities in Los Angeles seen through the
perspective of low-paid workers. The film was inspired by the so-called ‘Justice for
Janitors’ movement and touches on a number of urban issues relating to immigration,
segregation and economic growth. Several other films by Ken Loach deal with
important urban issues; of particular note are Cathy Come Home (1966) (homelessness,
slum clearance and redevelopment) and Kes (1969) (themes of alienation and youth in
industrial Britain).
City of God (Cidade de Deus) (2002) (dir: Fernando Meirelles)
No-holds-barred critically-acclaimed account of life in a Brazilian slum.
London (1994) and Robinson in Space (1997) (dir: Patrick Kieller).
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Two films critiquing the economic landscape of the UK under Thatcherism/neoliberalism,
as seen through the eyes of an unnamed itinerant narrator.
Urbanised (2011) (dir: Gary Hustwit)
Film on urban design asking who is allowed to shape our cities and how do they do it.
Interviews with architects and urban designers such as Norman Foster, Jan Gehl as well as
a range of projects from around the world.
The Planners (BBC TV series)
Over the Edge (1979) (dir: Jonathan Kaplan)
A cult film about some of the social problems caused by poorly planned new
communities – in this case a fictional desert new town in the USA, where a lack of
facilities for kids, and an economic growth imperative for the city leaders, leads to crime
problems.
The Pipe (2010) (dir. Risteard O'Domhnaill)
What do people do, when the law prevents them from protecting themselves?
Documentary film on the small Irish village that stood up to Big Oil.
Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet (video)
http://green.tv/videos/6_degrees/
The Wire (TV series), especially Seasons 1 & 2
An anatomy of the workings of a deindustrialised city from the perspective of various
institutions including drug cartels, trade unions, property developers, police and local
political
parties.
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