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Idaho Metropolitan Research Series

Quintessential Boise An Architectural Journey

By Charles Hummel and Tim Woodward with Jeanne Huff.
Quintessential Boise offers a five-star system for understanding authentic streetscapes. Searching for the Boise in Boise—for the elements that define our city, making Boise unique—the book is a primer on architecture that works. In Quintessential Boise you’ll find: commentary on architectural traditions and styles; analysis of growth and transportation patterns; dazzling photography, both contemporary and historic; art prints from the City of Boise’s collection; history and maps of neighborhood subregions; personal reflections on downtown’s urban renewal.  “What makes us different is priceless. Think of this book as a guide to what makes Boise like no place else.” From chapter one: “Five Fundamentals of Place.”

Press Releases for Quintessential Boise

• Boise State News

  • This book is dedicated to the proposition that streets and their buildings are keys to the life of a city and that good architecture, like good books, should engage the public in readable and provocative ways, wrote Melissa Lavitt, dean of SSPA and editor of the Idaho Metropolitan Research Series, in the book's forward. Part history and part social science, with contributions from more than a dozen of Boise's best photographers and artists, the book launches a series about cities and the dynamics of growth.

• IdahoStatesman.com

  • With renowned Boise architect Charles Hummel and Idaho Statesman columnist Tim Woodward as guides, "Quintessential Boise: An Architectural Journey" takes readers on tours of neighborhoods to identify what makes the city unique. It's not a book just about architecture but the chemistry and history of Boise, overlapping the past and the present, the high tech and the low brow.

 

Environmental Politics and Policy in the West
(2nd edition)
Edited by Drs. John C. Freemuth (BSU) and Zachary A. Smith
Population growth and industrial development have put the wide-open spaces and natural resources that define the West under immense stress. Vested interests clash and come to terms over embattled resources such as water, minerals, and even open space. The federal government controls 40 to 80 percent of the land base in many western states; its sway over the futures of the West’s communities and environment has prompted the development of unique policies and politics in the West.

Smith and Freemuth bring together a roster of top scholars to explicate environmental policies independently of Washington, and how and when science is involved (or ignored) in management of the West’s federal lands. Experts in individual resource areas explore multifaceted issues such as the politics of dam removal and restoration, wildlife resource concerns, suburban sprawl and smart growth, the management of hard-rock mining, and the allocation of the West’s tightly limited water resources.

 

Governing Idaho: Politics, People and Power
by Dr. James B. Weatherby (BSU) and Randy Stapilus
Governing Idaho: Politics, People and Power details the history, geography and demographics that make the political structure of this western state a fascinating study.

 

Latinos in Idaho: Celebrando Cultura
Edited by Dr. Robert McCarl (BSU)
This collection is a documentary mix including essays and interviews inspired by “Fiesta Idaho,” a folk festival that interprets the history and culture of Idaho’s Latino community.

Esta colección es una mezcla documental que incluye ensayos y entrevistas inspirados por “Fiesta Idaho”, un festival folclórico que interpreta la historia y cultura de la communidad Latina en Idaho.

 

Mobile Home Living in Boise: Its Uncertain Future and Alarming Decline
by Boise State University College of Social Sciences
and Public Affairs
The Idaho Statesman’s Katherine Keller writes, ‘’Mobile home parks are often viewed as ramshackle, crime-ridden refuges of last resort for the city’s poorest residents. …BSU researchers looked at Boise because the city has about 50 mobile home parks; at least 2.5 percent of Boise’s population lives in such parks. But half of those residents are senior citizens living on median household incomes of just $20,000 or less, according to BSU’s study. Most are women, and nearly half have a chronic medical condition. … Idaho cities have few tools to protect residents, researchers said, because no state law allows local government to require landowners, buyers or sellers to maintain trailers or requires anyone to pay relocation expenses if a park closes.”

On-line:
http://ppa.boisestate.edu/centerppa/documents/MobileHomes__Boise.pdf

Social Science Titles of Related Interest

Growing Closer: Density and Sprawl in the Boise Valley
Edited by Todd Shallat with Larry Burke and Brandi Burns

How might we build modern cities as good as the neighborly places lost to suburbia's sprawl?  Growing Closer surveys the  housing patterns and trends.  The ten-chapter anthology is volume two in the college's Investigate Boise Student Research Series.  Topics include the history of sprawl, streetcar suburbs, infill zoning disputes, leapfrog development, infrastructure challenges, vanishing farmlands.  Well illustrated with photos, charts, and maps.

Making Livable Places: Transportation, Preservation, and the Limits of Growth
Edited by Todd Shallat and David Eberle with Larry Burke

The illustrated anthology presents ten research essays on political and historical issues that shape metropolitan growth. Topics include streetcars, historic preservation, neighborhood revitalization, downtown urban renewal, and disputes over wildlife conservation.