Resource: Livability 101: What Makes a Community Livable?

Title:	Livability 101: What Makes a Community Livable?
Resource type:	Manual/guide
Topics:	Communities, Land Use, Transportation
Keywords:	communities, place, density, mixed-use
Audience:	All
Region:	Minnesota Statewide, Outside Minnesota
Summary:	This online publication shows what works for communities across the country, and offers useful rules of thumb for citizens, architects and other professionals working to make cities more livable.
Content:	Richly illustrated with photographs and drawings, the American Institute of Architecture produced this free on-line publication in December 2005 available at the web site below. It shows what works for communities across the country, and abstracts useful principles and rules of thumb for citizens, architects and other professionals working in cities. In a packed 58 pages, this piece addresses physical design from the level of the park bench to that of a municipal region. Architects present smart, quality design that engenders economically, socially and environmentally successful places that people care for and love. Sections of the publication address: * A Sense of Place * Mixed-Use Development * Density * Effective Planning for Regional Transportation * Street-Savvy Design * Physical Health and Community Design * Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED; see below) * A Sustainable Approach to Neighborhood & Regional Development AIA's 10 Principles for Livable Communities are presented in the final section: - Design on a Human Scale - Provide Choices (in housing, shopping, recreation, transportation, employment) - Encourage Mixed-Use Development - Preserve Urban Centers - Vary Transportation Options - Build Vibrant Public Spaces - Create a Neighborhood Identity - Protect Environmental Resources - Conserve Landscapes - Design Matters -------------------------- CPTED results in a physical environment that positively influences human behavior: people who use the area regularly perceive it as safe, and would-be criminals see the area as a highly risky place to commit crime. A concept first proposed by the architect Oscar Newman in his 1972 book Defensible Space, CPTED is regularly used by planners and police.
Website:	http://www.aia.org/aiaucmp/groups/aia/documents/pdf/aiab081538.pdf
Suggested by:	Philipp Muessig
Added:	09/5/06
Updated:	08/30/12