The Relaxation of American Building Regulations: Promises and Controversies
By Aleksandra Jaeschke
Princeton Architectural Press, 240 pp., $29.95
Based on Aleksandra Jaeschke’s Harvard Graduate School of Design dissertation, The Greening of America’s Building Codes explores the history of housing codes in the United States while investigating the rise of environmental awareness that led to today’s green standards. By assessing “how these two threads became confused during the 20th century and how this confusion was resolved by politicians, strengthened by economists, and standardized in the realm of code makers” , the book is a tool for architects, builders and designers who want to know how politics affects the environment.
He wrote: “If designers really want to minimize the impact of buildings on the environment and remain relevant as a profession, they need to broaden their definition of design, starting with investigate the control area, and recognize predesign as an important aspect of spatial practice.”
Gentrification is inevitable and another lie
By Leslie Kern
Verso, 256 pp., $24.95
Revitalisation, réurbanisation, renewal, revival, renewal. According to Leslie Kern, an author and professor of geography at Mount Allison University in Canada, these are all “words that have emerged from the discourse of planning and policies designed to hide immigration.” and hierarchy”. Besides their pronunciation, these words, popular with pro-development city planners, politicians and real estate agents, have something else in common. They are often used as euphemisms for another controversial term: gentrification.
In his new book, Gentrification is inevitable and another lie, Kern shares seven common myths about gentrification, arguing that any study of urban phenomena should be examined not only in terms of class but through queer perspectives— feminist, anti-racist, and decolonial. The final chapter explores these three frameworks in depth, suggesting possible steps towards a more equitable city that focus on concepts such as care infrastructure, Land Back initiatives, reparations and social justice. – environment. Kern writes, “Not only can intersectional analysis help explain the effects of gentrification, but it also offers hope for intervention. It is important to ask: What are we not talking about when we talk about are we gentrifying?”
