April 6, 2009 — What do author Rachel Carson, architect Frank Lloyd Wright and transportation expert Reid Ewing have in common? Each has written a book considered by the American Planning Association as one of the 100 most influential books in creating livable places.

Fortunately for the University of Utah, and the growing state of Utah, Ewing is the most recent faculty addition to the Department of City and Metropolitan Planning at the College of Architecture + Planning. His expertise in transportation planning has expanded the talent pool of the college, which is focused on training the next generation of leaders in the field.

In his 1996 book, Best Development Practices: Doing the Right Thing and Making Money at the Same Time, Ewing draws upon case examples of some of today’s most acclaimed developments and recommends best practice guidelines to help developers create vibrant, livable communities-and still make money.

The influential book list traces the progress of cities’ design and development. The list begins with Sir Richard Unwin’s 1909 book on how to plan cities from a human scale and includes such classics as Toward a New Architecture by Le Corbusier (1925) and Death and Life of the American City (1960) by Jane Jacobs.

The College of Architecture + Planning, established at the University of Utah in 1949, fosters an educational community of students, faculty, and staff with interests and expertise in creative design, building, planning, computer technology, issues of social and ecological responsibility, and the scholarly study of the history and theory of the built landscape. We educate future professionals who are concerned with constructing and maintaining the highest quality in our built and natural environments.