Reclaiming the City - Mixed Use Development (Electronic book text)

Patterns of development of Britain's cities have evolved in new ways in the 1990s. Government, town planners and Property developers have started to realize that there are benefits in having more people living in city centres. The low-density suburban sprawl around cities and the economic and environmental costs of relying on complex transport systems to service these arrangements now cause concern. At the same time buildings in many fringe areas of city centres have become abandoned as their activities become obsolete and the buildings inappropriate for modern technological requirements. Reclaiming the City is a book based on a research project taking a critical look at mixed-use development. It examines the history and development of land use zoning and the reasons why concerns for more sustainable cities lead to a greater mix of uses. It examines examples of policies and schemes which have created new mixed use developments and the attitudes of developers involved in such schemes. Planners, architects, urban designers and those involved in the property industry will find this book both timely and useful.