When possible, links to the books from online retailers are available for you to see the book, read what the publisher says, and get reviews from other readers. Consider visiting your local library for the titles that interest you the most, or check out WorldCat, a global library database to find it in a library near you!

Car-Free Development
Community Planning
Green Building
Environmentalism
Cycling

Car-Free Development

We are not the first ones to think that communities might be better off if cars were kept at bay. Here are many books by authors who discuss what the automobile has done to the world and what we can do to make things better.

• Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America and How We Can Take It Back by Jane Holtz Kay (1997)
• Car Sick: Solutions for Our Car-Addicted Culture by Lynn Sloman (2006)
• The Car and the City: 24 Steps to Safe Streets and Healthy Communities by Alan Thein Durning (1996)
• Carchitecture: When the Car and the City Collide by Jonathan Bell (2001)
• Carfree Cities by J.H. Crawford (2000)
• The City After the Automobile: An Architect's Vision by Moshe Safdie (1997)
• Cutting Your Car Use: Save Money, Be Healthy, Be Green! by Randall Ghent and Anna Semlyen (2006)
• Divorce Your Car! Ending the Love Affair With the Automobile by Katie Alvord (2000)
• Down the Asphalt Path: The Automobile and the American City by Clay McShane (1994)
• The Ecology of the Automobile by Peter Freund and George Martin (1994)
• Future Transport in Cities by Brian Richards (2002)
• How to Live Well Without Owning a Car by Chris Balish (2006)
• The Post-Automobile City: Legal Mechanisms to Establish the Pedestrian-Friendly City by James A. Kushner (2004)
• Reclaiming Our Cities and Towns: Better Living With Less Traffic by David Engwicht (1993)
• Where the Road and the Sky Collide: America Through the Eyes of Its Drivers by K.T. Berger (1993)

Community Planning

Here are books that offer ideas on how better planning can help to create better cities. Maybe one of these books will inspire you!

• Ecocities: Rebuilding Cities in Balance With Nature by Richard Register (2006)
• Urban Sprawl and Public Health: Designing, Planning, and Building for Healthy Communities by Howard Frumkin, Lawrence Frank, Richard Joseph Jackson
• Cities for a Small Country by Richard Rogers and Ann Power (2000)
• The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs (1961)
• Ecological Utopias: Envisioning the Sustainable Society by Marius deGeus (1999)
• Ecotopia Emerging by Ernest Callenbach (1981)
• The Great Neighborhood Book: A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Placemaking by Jay Walljasper (2007)
• Green Urbanism: Learning from European Cities by Timothy Beatley (2000)
• How Cities Work: Suburbs, Sprawl and the Roads Not Taken by Alex Marshall (2001)
• Livable Streets by Donald Appleyard (1981)
• Making Cities Livable by Suzanne H. Crowhurt Lennard, Sven von Ungern-Sternberg and Henry L. Lennard (1997)
• New Movement in Cities by Brian Richards (1969)
• The Next American Metropolis: Ecology, Community and the American Dream by Peter Calthorpe (1993)
• Street Reclaiming: Creating Livable Streets and Vibrant Communities by David Engwicht(1999)
• Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream by Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and Jeff Speck (2001)
• Sustainable Communities: A New Design Synthesis for Cities, Towns and Suburbs by Sim Van der Ryn and Peter Calthorpe (1986)
• Transit Villages in the 21st Century by Michael Bernick and Robert Cervero (1996)

Green Building

These books offer opinions on why building green is important, what the price differences are, and what the options are. Many of these books will likely come in handy when you build your home in Bicycle City!

• The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture by Alanna Stang and Christopher Hawthorn (2005)
• Healthy House Building for the New Millennium by John Bower (1999)
• The New Ecological Home: A Complete Guide to Green Building Options by Dan Chiras (2004)
• The New Natural House Book: Creating a Healthy, Harmonious and Ecologically-Sound Home by David Pearson (1998)
• Prescriptions for a Healthy House by Paula Baker-Laporte, Erica Elliott, John Banta and Lisa Flynn (1997)
• The Production of Houses by Christopher Alexander (1985)
• Space Is the Machine: A Configurational Theory of Architecture by Bill Hillier (1996)
• Your Green Home: A Guide to Planning a Healthy, Environmentally-Friendly New Home by Alex Wilson and John Abrams (2006)
• Your Natural Home: A Complete Sourcebook and Design Manual for Creating a Healthy, Beautiful, Environmentally-Sensitive House by Janet Marinelli and Paul Bierman-Lytle (1995)

Environmentalism

Some classic environmentally-focused books with a few new, poignant ones. Learn why environmentalism is such a hot topic today and learn what you can do to help.

• Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey (1968)
• Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit by Al Gore (2000)
• The Lorax by Dr. Seuss (1971)
• One Planet, Many People: Atlas of Our Changing Environment by UNEP (2005)
• Planet in Peril: An Atlas of Current Threats to People and the Environment by GRID-Arendal (2006)
• Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Earth by Jim Merkel (2003)
• A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold (1949)
• Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (1962)
• Walden by Henry David Thoreau (1854)
• Diet for a New America by John Robbins

Active/Outdoors

Books about active, outdoors-oriented lifestyles, and much more.

• The Complete Guide to Walking, New and Revised: For Health, Weight Loss, and Fitness by Mark Fenton (2008)
• Classic Hikes of the World: 23 Breathtaking Treks by Peter Potterfield (2005)
• Bike For Life: How to Ride to 100 by Roy M. Wallack and Bill Katovsky (2005)
• The Ultimate Guide to Whitewater Kayaking by Ken Whiting and Kevin Varette (2004)
• Fitness Swimming (Fitness Spectrum Series) by Emmett W. Hines (1998)