This book explores how enhancing the collection, accuracy, and management of data can aid in identifying vulnerable neighborhoods, understanding the role of older buildings, and planning sustainable growth. For preservation to play a dynamic and inclusive role, policy must evolve beyond designation and regulation and use evidence-based research.

Although rarely explored in academic literature, most inhabitants and visitors interact with an urban landscape on a day-to-day basis is on the street level. Storefronts, first floor apartments, and sidewalks are the most immediate and common experience of a city. These "plinths" are the ground floors that negotiate between inside and outside, the public and private spheres. The City at Eye Level qualitatively evaluates plinths by exploring specific examples from all over the world. Over twenty-five experts investigate the design, land use, and road and foot traffic in rigorously researched essays, case studies, and interviews. These pieces are supplemented by over two hundred beautiful color images and engage not only with issues in design, but also the concerns of urban communities. The editors have put together a comprehensive guide for anyone concerned with improving or building plinths, including planners, building owners, property and shop managers, designers, and architects.

This well illustrated text forms a critical appraisal of the place and direction of architecture and urban design in a new world order at the start of the 21st century. The book defines architectural and environmental goals for the New Age by analysing recent contemporary work for its responsiveness to important social and environmental issues and comparing it to successful precedents in architecture. It argues that this new sustainable approach to architecture should be recognised as a new development of mainstream architectural history. This practical guide illustrates current social and natural resource issues to aid architects in their approach to future design. Environmental economics is presented as a potential bridge over the divide between the expectations of the business sector and the concerns of environmental lobbies. Through examples and case studies, an accessible analysis of carefully researched data, drawn from primary sources over four continents, allows the author to outline the current urgency for architects and urban designers to respond with real commitment to current and future changing contexts. This book expresses a holistic vision and proposes a value system in response to the diagnosis. It includes: sound architectural and environmental ethics; end user involvement in the design process and technological advances aimed at sustainable resource use. Includes international case studies from Europe, North America, the Developing world including South Africa, South America and Central Asia.