Batty M. Inventing future cities 2018

Textbook in PDF format

Building Cities to LAST presents the myriad issues of sustainable urbanism in a clear and concise system, and supports holistic thinking about sustainable development in urban environments by providing four broad measures of urban sustainability that differ radically from other, less long-lived patterns: these are Lifecycle, Aesthetics, Scale, and Technology (LAST). This framework for understanding the relationship between these four measures and the essential types of infrastructure – grouped according to the basic human needs of Food, Shelter, Mobility, and Water – is laid out in a simple and easy to understand format. These broad measures and infrastructures address the city as a whole and as a recognizable pattern of human activity and, in turn, increase the ability of cities – and the human race – to LAST. This book will find wide readership particularly among students and young practitioners in architecture, urban planning, and landscape architecture