Town &
Regional
Planning
PREPARATORY READING FOR TOWN AND REGIONAL PLANNING COURSES (2015 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 PalgraveMacmillan, 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.
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.
Castells M. (1996) The Rise of the Network Society London: Blackwell.
Davis M (2006) City of Quartz (new edition), London: Verso.
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.
Graham S and Marvin S (2001) Splintering Urbanism London: Routledge.
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.
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 TwentiethCentury.
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
development of cities.
historical
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.
Mumford, L. (1961) ‘The City in History New York: Harcort, Brace & World.
Platt E (2001) Leadville: A Biography of the A40 Picador.
Sandercock L (1997) Towards Cosmopolis: Planning for Multicultural Cities Wiley.
Sheppard and Smith Study Skills for Town and Country Planning Sage.
Begg D, Fischer S and Dornbusch R (various editions) Economics.
Suttles G D (1968) The Social Order of the Slum: Ethnicity and Territory in the Inner City Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
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:
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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_urban_planning_01.shtml
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110118095356/http:/www.cabe.org.uk/articles/the-riseand-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-and-localgovernment
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/6077/2116950.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-on-english-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 20th 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.
La Zone
See: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1039652/
London (1994) and Robinson in Space (1997) (dir: Patrick Kieller).
Two films critiquing the economic landscape of the UK under Thatcherism/neoliberalism, as seen through
the eyes of an unnamed itinerant narrator.
Requiem for Detroit (2008) (Dir: John Temple)
This documentary provides an excellent account of urban history, using the example of Detroit in the 20 th
Century. It is available at: http://documentaryheaven.com/requiem-for-detroit/
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.
The Secret History of our Streets (BBC TV Series)
See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04bx5r1