I am pulling together this section around the great American occasion that is Halloween. The season brings together some of our most American of traditions, with massive volumes of candy, the extravagant decoration of houses, costumes for people of all ages, and the remarkable spoiling of children (and yes, I have two teenagers whom I have spoiled for years myself). Halloween is also a period during which horror movies with indestructible protagonists find their most adoring audiences. Although I am not a fan of the horror genre myself, I do know that Freddy Krueger (of the Nightmare on Elm Street movie series) and Michael Myers (of the Halloween movie series) are two entrenched examples of the evil, horrible, never-quite-gone villain.
Strangely enough, it would seem that, at least for the near term, I am the Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers of JAPA. You see, back in Volume 84, Numbers 3–4, I indicated that I was soon to vacate the post of Review Editor. The plan was to hand over the position this past summer and have a new Review Editor in place by this issue. Because of the desire of APA leadership to ensure a smooth transition to a new JAPA editorial team, I agreed to extend my term through the next few issues. I agreed to this because I believe so much in the quality of this journal. It has been an honor to work with outgoing JAPA Editor Sandi Rosenbloom for many years, and I am equally honored to work with incoming JAPA Editor Ann Forsyth. For you practitioners out there, though I am simply a Freddy Krueger, these two remarkable planning leaders are the Ruth Bader Ginsburg or Queen Elizabeth of the story.
As for this issue, the reviews turn to a common theme for the section, that of resilience. In one way or another, every book reviewed in the section revolves around this theme. The section begins with Eugénie L. Birch’s review of a second volume of Climate Change and Cities: Second Assessment Report of the Urban Climate Change Research Network, which tackles issues of climate change and resilience head on. Birch, of the University of Pennsylvania, has been involved in this topic and with this group for years, and her review paints a picture of a must-read resource for planners.
The next set of reviews builds on this global orientation by looking at cities and metropolitan areas around the globe and how they are positioning themselves (or not) in the pursuit of economic, environmental, and community resilience. Penny Gurstein of the University of British Columbia reviews Nathanael Lauster’s The Death and Life of the Single-Family House: Lessons From Vancouver on Building a Livable City, which looks at housing in Vancouver (Canada). Vancouver is held up as one of the best cities on the planet, but Lauster’s book finds that all is not well (and all are not resilient) in this hyperexpensive city. Regular contributor David P. Varady, of the University of Cincinnati, reports on Michael Oluf Emerson and Kevin T. Smiley’s Market Cities, People Cities: The Shape of Our Urban Future, finding some great food for thought for planners about the different pathways that cities can take to ensure their long-run resilience.
Gavin Shatkin’s Cities for Profit: The Real Estate Turn in Asia’s Urban Politics, a fascinating book about megaprojects in Asia, is reviewed by University of Pennsylvania doctoral student Kimberly M. Noronha. Noronha summarizes the book’s assessment that these megaprojects are reshaping Asia and not always in particularly resilient ways. Last in our cities and resilience section is a review by Samuel Geldin, another great University of Pennsylvania doctoral student. Geldin finds much to like about Coping With Adversity: Regional Economic Resilience and Public Policy by Harold Wolman, Howard Wial, Travis St. Clair, and Edward Hill. The authors bring quantitative research and policy insights into what makes for economic resilience in the United States in the past several decades.
The section closes with reviews of two books that at first glance appear to have little to do with resilience, Creating Aging-Friendly Communities by Andrew E. Scharlach and Amanda J. Lehning and Beyond Mobility: Planning Cities for People and Places by Robert Cervero, Erick Guerra, and Stefan Al. The former is reviewed by two experts on aging-friendly communities, independent scholar Charles W. Dunlap and Hunter College’s Nancy Giunta, who laud it as a crisp, readable book on the ways and means of creating neighborhoods and places for aging populations. As a Florida resident, I see every day the challenges faced by older adults and the need to promote resilience for this sometimes overlooked population. The final review, by friend and Florida Atlantic University faculty member Eric Dumbaugh, takes head-on the latest book by the prolific Robert Cervero. Dumbaugh likes much of what he reads but suggests that Beyond Mobility is old wine in a new bottle, going so far as to ask a bigger question about the resilience of the idea of the transportation–land use connection. Be sure to give this review a read, as Cervero’s work is always intriguing and Dumbaugh has a fascinating take on it.
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Notes on contributors
Tim Chapin
Tim Chapin is Dean of the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy at Florida State University.