Books

In progress

Mutant Metropolis: Living in the Emerging American City
(this book does not yet have a publisher)

Why does living in a nice suburb mean a 30-mile, traffic-strangled commute? Why does taking a big city job mean paying a fortune for what used to be called a tenement coldwater flat? Why does a megamall threaten to overrun a once-remote seaside village that had appealed precisely because it lived for decades by its own rhythms?

James S. Russell unravels these mysteries as he explains how neatly defined cities, suburbs, and countrysides have morphed over the last 25 years into strange new urban life forms. Mutant Metropolis helps readers understand these new places and shows how to come to terms with them.

Russell explains why centers of dizzying wealth and wrenching poverty no longer make room for a middle class. He shows how suburbs have become vast, highway-webbed anonymous megaburbs. He explains why the most precious landscapes sprout shopping strips as they turn into neoburbs.

Emerging stewardship ethics for land, Russell argues, help communities fit more gracefully in valued natural landscapes. New cultures of community can take control of giant metropolitan regions. Architecture can unite people through inviting libraries, through multi-modal transportation solutions that invigorate urban economies, and by expressing the values we share even as urban life becomes faster moving and globally linked.

Detailed description | Chapter summary

Architecture to Landscape: Salvatore LaRosa and Ronald Bentley
James S. Russell, editor; with essays by Gary R. Hilderbrand, Peter G. Rowe, and James S. Russell
Published by 2wice Arts Foundation, 184 pages.

A monographic treatment, gorgeously illustrated, of two house projects by architects Salvatore LaRosa and Ronald Bentley, of B Five studio in New York. These works were painstakingly developed over time, and are deeply considered from the scale of the landscape to custom-made items of furniture and decorative arts. They engage history, nature, rituals both sacred and everyday, and the meaning of domesticity.

The Mayors’ Institute: Excellence in City Design
James S. Russell, editor; with Christine Saum, Executive Director, Mayors’ Institute on City Design; and Mark Robbins, Series Editor
National Endowment for the Arts Series on Design, published by Princeton Architectural Press, 2002, 124 pages.

This illustrated volume concisely explains how to successfully use design in public projects. Brief overviews cover the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, urban planning, and art. They especially focus on the esthetic modes these fields employ and how they can usefully shape—and be shaped by—public expectations and public desires. Essays by an array of experts in urban design, urban history, design criticism and urban economics offer a variety of perspectives on the nature of design and the city. The texts are illustrated by numerous examples and augmented by brief, “best practice” case studies. The book should be useful to officials, citizens’ organizations, and students that are interested in what designers do, how they work, and the way that design can help reconcile contentious land-use and planning issues.

Designing For Security: Guidelines For Using Art and Design
James S. Russell, writer, with Elizabeth Kennedy, Meredith Kelly, and Deborah Bershad. The Art Commission of the City of New York and the Design Trust for Public Space, 1999, 2002.

The publication looks from several perspectives at the ways in which the design of public facilities can enhance security and discourage criminal behavior. It is aimed primarily at architects and designers, but the text is nontechnical, and can be usefully consulted by anyone who is concerned about the security of buildings and public settings.

Chapters summarize research on the relationship of crime and environmental design and discuss means by which the design and management of public environments influences behavior. Texts suggests ways that people who manage and use facilities can contribute to both the perception and the reality of safety. The publication offers as well specific guidance on all aspects of site and building design. Although it does not specifically describe antiterrorism tactics, many of the considerations offer lessons to managers dealing with antiterrorism concerns. Numerous illustrated case studies are included.

An excerpt:
Conceptual Ways of Looking at Crime

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	Books In progress Mutant Metropolis: Living in the Emerging American City (this book does not yet have a publisher) Why does living in a nice suburb mean a 30-mile, traffic-strangled commute? Why does taking a big city job mean paying a fortune for what used to be called a tenement coldwater flat? Why does a megamall threaten to overrun a once-remote seaside village that had appealed precisely because it lived for decades by its own rhythms? James S. Russell unravels these mysteries as he explains how neatly defined cities, suburbs, and countrysides have morphed over the last 25 years into strange new urban life forms. Mutant Metropolis helps readers understand these new places and shows how to come to terms with them. Russell explains why centers of dizzying wealth and wrenching poverty no longer make room for a middle class. He shows how suburbs have become vast, highway-webbed anonymous megaburbs. He explains why the most precious landscapes sprout shopping strips as they turn into neoburbs. Emerging stewardship ethics for land, Russell argues, help communities fit more gracefully in valued natural landscapes. New cultures of community can take control of giant metropolitan regions. Architecture can unite people through inviting libraries, through multi-modal transportation solutions that invigorate urban economies, and by expressing the values we share even as urban life becomes faster moving and globally linked. Detailed description \| Chapter summary
	Architecture to Landscape: Salvatore LaRosa and Ronald Bentley James S. Russell, editor; with essays by Gary R. Hilderbrand, Peter G. Rowe, and James S. Russell Published by 2wice Arts Foundation, 184 pages. A monographic treatment, gorgeously illustrated, of two house projects by architects Salvatore LaRosa and Ronald Bentley, of B Five studio in New York. These works were painstakingly developed over time, and are deeply considered from the scale of the landscape to custom-made items of furniture and decorative arts. They engage history, nature, rituals both sacred and everyday, and the meaning of domesticity.

	The Mayors’ Institute: Excellence in City Design James S. Russell, editor; with Christine Saum, Executive Director, Mayors’ Institute on City Design; and Mark Robbins, Series Editor National Endowment for the Arts Series on Design, published by Princeton Architectural Press, 2002, 124 pages. This illustrated volume concisely explains how to successfully use design in public projects. Brief overviews cover the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, urban planning, and art. They especially focus on the esthetic modes these fields employ and how they can usefully shape—and be shaped by—public expectations and public desires. Essays by an array of experts in urban design, urban history, design criticism and urban economics offer a variety of perspectives on the nature of design and the city. The texts are illustrated by numerous examples and augmented by brief, “best practice” case studies. The book should be useful to officials, citizens’ organizations, and students that are interested in what designers do, how they work, and the way that design can help reconcile contentious land-use and planning issues.

	Designing For Security: Guidelines For Using Art and Design James S. Russell, writer, with Elizabeth Kennedy, Meredith Kelly, and Deborah Bershad. The Art Commission of the City of New York and the Design Trust for Public Space, 1999, 2002. The publication looks from several perspectives at the ways in which the design of public facilities can enhance security and discourage criminal behavior. It is aimed primarily at architects and designers, but the text is nontechnical, and can be usefully consulted by anyone who is concerned about the security of buildings and public settings. Chapters summarize research on the relationship of crime and environmental design and discuss means by which the design and management of public environments influences behavior. Texts suggests ways that people who manage and use facilities can contribute to both the perception and the reality of safety. The publication offers as well specific guidance on all aspects of site and building design. Although it does not specifically describe antiterrorism tactics, many of the considerations offer lessons to managers dealing with antiterrorism concerns. Numerous illustrated case studies are included. An excerpt: Conceptual Ways of Looking at Crime

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