Spatial thinking and analysis are essential for intelligent urban policymaking in a globally connected world. Urban planners need to understand how cities are organized and how residential patterns are shaped as a result of population and employment changes. Otherwise, they risk designing urban plans and policies that are unrealistic and exclusionary. GIS can be usefully applied by planners to new urban development challenges in global metropolitan regions and megacities, particularly those where rapid demographic changes, including immigration, have spurred massive growth.

Esri Press has just published two new books on the subject.

In Mapping Global Cities: GIS Methods in Urban Analysis (ISBN 1-58948-143-7, 208 pp., $49.95), author Ayse Pamuk applies GIS technology to new urban planning and policy challenges in global metropolitan regions, especially those where swift demographic transformations are primarily responsible for recent rapid growth.

Designed as a comprehensive textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses in urban and regional planning, GIS for the Urban Environment (ISBN 1-58948-082-1, 624 pp., $79.95) also serves as an introduction and self-study workbook for urban and regional planners. Authors Juliana Maantay and John Ziegler offer real-world planning case studies from the most urban of American environments, New York City, New York.

More Information

Visit www.esri.com/esripress for ordering information and a listing of additional available titles. To learn more about GIS for urban planning, visit www.esri.com/planning.