Sustainability and Cities examines the urban aspect of sustainability issues, arguing that cities are a necessary focus for that global agenda. The authors make the case that the essential character of a city's land use results from how it manages its transportation, and that only by reducing our automobile dependence will we be able to successfully accomodate all elements of the sustainability agenda.

The book begins with chapters that set forth the notion of sustainability and how it applies to cities and automobile dependence. The authors consider the changing urban economy in the information age, and describe the extent of automobile dependence worldwide. They provide an updated survey of global cities that examines a range of sustainability factors and indicators, and, using a series of case studies, demonstrate how cities around the world are overcoming the problem of automobile dependence. They also examine the connections among transporation and other issues-including water use and cycling, waste management, greening the urban landscape, and more-and explain how all elements of sustainability can be managed simultaneously.

The authors end with a consideration of how professional planners can promote the sustainability agenda, and the ethical base needed to ensure that this critical set of issues is taken seriously in the world's cities.

Sustainability and Cities will serve as a source of both learning and inspiration for those seeking to create more sustainable cities, and is an important book for practitioners, researchers, and students in the fields of planning, geography, and public policy.

The yellow cab is a striking metaphor for New York City and its exuberant twenty-four-hours-a-day rush. But just as the city has changed in recent years, so too has the industry that keeps it on the move. As Biju Mathew reveals in this fast-paced survey of New York's taxi business, just about everything has changed dramatically except the yellow paint.

An immigrant working class in an industry that pioneered outsourcing, taxi drivers have a tough job with long hours and low earnings. The recent fare hike represents a major step forward for them. Behind the victory is a long campaign by the Taxi Workers Alliance, of which Mathew is a volunteer organizer, stretching back to the 1998 strike against the harassment of Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The scale of this action, with twenty-four thousand drivers participating, was achieved despite the diversity of a workforce that speaks at least eighty different languages. Drawing extensively on Mathew's interactions with the drivers, Taxi! is as much a critical commentary on globalization, urban renewal, migration, and multiculturalism as it is a captivating account of the struggles and triumphs of life behind the wheel. Buckle up, sit back, and enjoy the ride.

"The series is abstracted and indexed in Journal of Economic Literature and in EconLit."