Dover, V., Massengale, J. (2014) Street Design: The Secret to Green Cities and Towns. New Jersey, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Summarize literature:
Dover and Massengale’s theory consists of creating and improving streets to suit the need of citizens. They support their statements with evidence through examples of successful streets from around the world and provide new theories as a guideline to enhance existing streets and communities. In addition, the authors support their argument by studying their own designs and evaluating historic street examples. They analysed their favourite cities, interviewed their colleagues for their list of favourite cities and travelled to a number of cities around the world to examine the current situation in each city to support their argument.

How your study relates to the article:
This book includes the principles needed to create better spaces for humans. It reveals key elements that many modern street designs lack by examines hundreds of examples of street designs around the world. For instance, it argues that Kensington High Street is a successful street. It demonstrates how the street can be transformed from a traffic-dominated street to an innovative public space. This book explores the elements of a traditional street and historical urban design. Therefore, it will help in providing background information for the extended essay. Furthermore, it will support the argument of the essay as it examines successful cities. Although this paper is useful in analysing successful street designs’ however, it does not examine people’s physiological response to the design and climate is barely mentioned in this book.

Compare and contrast different authors’ views on the issue:
Numerous studies emphasizes on the importance of walkability. Several of these reported that outdoor thermal comfort is an important factor to study in attempt to promote walkability, while others have claimed that

Speck, J. (2012) Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time. New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Summarize literature:
He attempts to develop his own theories and studies a number of American cities as evidence to support his analysis. Moreover, he examines the development of historic cites such as Rome and Venice and measures their successfulness.

How your study relates to the article:
The author’s argument is heavily focused on how to make a city healthier and environmentally sustainable. He believes that walkability is key factor in creating a successful city. Speck states that cities should not be built around cars. For instance, he rejects the creation of landscape around automobile use. Although the extended essay will not just be based on American cities, this book offers an insight to the urban advantages of walking and demonstrates the ten steps of walkability. The chapter, Why Walkability, will help in supporting one of the key factors of the argument of the extended essay. The author acknowledges the importance of walkability and transit; however, he did not mention climatic conditions to support his evidence.

Compare and contrast different authors’ views on the issue: