With over 80 percent of Americans now living in cities and suburbs, getting our communities right has never been more important, more complicated, or more fascinating. Longtime sustainability leader Kaid Benfield shares 25 enlightening and entertaining essays about the wondrous ecology of human settlement, and how to make it better for both people and the planet. People Habitat explores topics as diverse as “green” housing developments that are no such thing, the tricky matter of gentrifying inner cities, why people don’t walk much anymore, and the relationship between cities and religion. Written with intellect, insight, and from-the-heart candor, each real-world story in People Habitat will make you see our communities in a new light.

A leading anthropologist studies the science behind "feeling at home" to show us how home made us human Home is where the heart is. Security, comfort, even love, are all feelings that are centered on the humble abode. But what if there is more to the feeling of being at home? Neuroanthropologist John S. Allen believes that the human habitat is one of the most important products of human cognitive, technological, and cultural evolution over the past two million years. In Home, Allen argues that to "feel at home" is more than just an expression, but reflects a deep-seated cognitive basis for the human desire to have, use, and enjoy a place of one's own. Allen addresses the very basic question: How did a place to sleep become a home? Within human evolution, he ranks house and home as a signature development of our species, as it emerged alongside cooperative hunting, language, and other critical aspects of humanity. Many animals burrow, making permanent home bases, but primates, generally speaking, do not: most wander, making nests at night wherever they might find themselves. This is often in home territory, but it isn't quite home. Our hominid ancestors were wanderers, too -- so how did we, over the past several million years, find our way home? To tell that story Allen will take us through evolutionary anthropology, neuroscience, the study of emotion, and modern sociology. He examines the home from the inside (of our heads) out: homes are built with our brains as much as with our hands and tools. Allen argues that the thing that may have been most critical in our evolution is not the physical aspect of a home, but developing a feeling of defining, creating, and being in a home, whatever its physical form. The result was an environment, relatively secure against whatever horrors lurked outside, that enabled the expensive but creative human mind to reach its full flowering. Today, with the threat of homelessness, child foster-care, and foreclosure, this idea of having a home is more powerful than ever. In a clear and accessible writing style, Allen sheds light on the deep, cognitive sources of the pleasures of having a home, the evolution of those behaviors, and why the deep reasons why they matter. Home is the story about how humans evolved to create a space not only for shelter, but also for nurturing creativity, innovation, and culture -- and why "feeling at home" is a fundamental aspect of the human condition.

This book is a result of the authors' more than 40 years of study on the behavior, populations, and heavy metals in the colonial waterbirds nesting in Barnegat Bay and the nearby estuaries and bays in the Northeastern United States. From Boston Harbor to the Chesapeake, based on longitudinal studies of colonial waterbirds, it provides a clear pictu

Habitat: Human Settlements in an Urban Age discusses the man-made environment and its physical setting, focusing on the urban slums of the world and rural hinterlands that caused the slums. Each chapter of this book deals with a specific issue, and the study of each issue is concluded with three questions—one answerable from the text, a second raising value questions for discussion, and a third extending the study beyond the documentation available in this text. Numerous maps, statistical charts, photographs, and end table of facts and figures are also provided to further assist in the investigation process. Topics elaborated in this text include the rural-urban system; urban frontier; rural stagnation; population; poor and rich; hazards of the environment; energy crisis; shelter for the urban millions; and planning for tomorrow. This publication is intended for secondary and tertiary students, but is also a good reference for individuals researching on the issues of habitat or human settlement.

This volume uses an innovative and interdisciplinary approach to assess various issues resulting from human-environment interactions in relation to sustainable development. The book encompasses theoretical and applied aspects, using both thematic and regional case studies from India, to highlight the impact of human-environment interactions at various spatio-temporal scales, with each study focusing on a particular anthropogenic issue, particularly in an Indian context. The book's three focal themes (e.g. habitat linkages, ekistics and social ecology, hazard and environmental management) elaborate the essential components of human-environment interactions with nature, its impact on the surrounding natural and social environments, and management techniques through research innovations. Readers will learn how maladjustments, disturbances and disasters are often inevitable byproducts of human-environment systems, and what conceptual and practical strategies can be applied towards sustainable coexistence. The book will be of interest to students, academics and policymakers engaged in environmental management, human-environment interactions and sustainable development.

Expansion of human population destroys wildlife habitat with subdivisions, highways, strip malls, and other man-made projects. This book provides notes from forty years experience working with practical ways to maintain and develop bobwhite quail habitat. This advice gives hunters, birders, and nature lovers an opportunity to enjoy one of the most revered gamebirds. Landowners and managers will be able to implement techniques that will enhance bird populations as well as improve the aesthetics and value of land. Reading the notes in this book is like having a personal interaction with Dr. Haaland regarding your land.

Handbook of Human Behavior and the Social Environment is a compendium of new theories for all aspects of social work practice. It pulls together major theories and concepts used in the field. By synthesizing this wide knowledge base via practical points of view and tracing the socio-historical evolution of its content and the role of the social worker, this handbook will assist social workers in achieving their primary goals: fostering human well-being and competent social functioning. The authors describe the current social work curriculum developed by the Council on Social Work Education Commission on Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards, demonstrating how client and constituency engagement, assessment, intervention, and evaluation are guided by knowledge of human behavior and the social environment (HBSE) theory. The Handbook applies HBSE theories differently depending on client system size, context, and needs. Major concepts include power, oppression, and identity formation. This essential, up-to-date volume formulates strategies to eliminate personal bias and to promote human rights. In addition, it integrates ethics, research, policy content, diversity, human rights, and social, economic, and environmental justice issues. It will serve as an insightful and influential guide to students, professors, and social workers.

Habitat for humanity is an American house-building ministry founded by evangelical Christians, it has constructed 85,000 homes using volunteers. Baggett tells the story of its development and argues that it is a particular social form of religion, a paradenominational organization.