The Urban Oasis

Architect Roxanne Warren makes an eloquent case for the Urban Oasis - a proposal for consolidating new development and redevelopment, whether it be in city or suburb. Conventional high-density planning raises the specter of concrete landscapes filled with cars; the Urban Oasis would contrast with this image. This book bridges the gap between the humanist and technological. It traces the development of pedestrian zones worldwide, and explores the apparent reasons for the prosperity of some and the failure of others. It projects the potential application of the concept to altogether new clusters of development. Whether located on redeveloped land in the cities, or threaded as car-free capillaries of new, relatively high-density development within lower-density outlying areas, new Urban Oases would thus combine vital advantages of rural and urban living. Within a green, environmentally compatible setting, they would allow the conveniences and satisfactions that have long been associated with towns and cities - the generation of economic and cultural synergy, social contacts with people of all cultures and ages, and a lifestyle that is less isolating and less dependent upon car ownership.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.