New And Notable: Sustainable Infrastructure, Driving Excellence & Open Government

 As more factors, perspectives, and metrics are incorporated into the planning and building process, the roles of engineers and designers are increasingly being fused together.

Sustainable Infrastructure: The Guide To Green Engineering And Design explores this trend with an in-depth look at sustainable engineering practices in an urban design as it involves watershed master-planning, green building, optimizing water reuse, reclaiming urban spaces, green streets initiatives, and sustainable master-planning.

This complete guide provides guidance on the role creative thinking and collaborative team-building play in meeting solutions needed to affect a sustainable transformation of the built environment.

In an effort to maximize the usability of dwindling resources such sa land and water to help humanity strive to reconnect with the natural world, this book advocates a multidisciplinary team approach to thdesign that is not only highly sustainable technologically, but also visually beautiful.

Sustainable Infrastructure discusses how engineers are working with other members of the design team to develop a unified strategy that produces the most effective and elegant green alternatives for the revitalization of urban infrastructure.

It examines the innovations in areas such as water resource management, site design, and land planning to help establish the framework for creating the healthy socio-economic environments of tomorrow, while it honors the aesthetic values that celebrate and enhance the human experience.

Driving Excellence: Transform Your Organization’s Culture And Receive Revolutionary Results tells the inspiring story of one man who, with no formal business training, turned an entire industry on its head.

When author Mark Aesch took over the Rochester Genessee Regional Transportation Authority in 2004, it was operating with a $27.7 million deficit, and was poised to raise fares, lay off employees, and slash service.

Under his leadership, those deficits have been eradicated and replaced with multimillion-dollar surpluses; reliance on taxpayer subsides has been reduced; demand for service has increased at rates three times the national average; and in an unprecedented move, the fare at the Authority’s two largest subsidiaries were actually reduced.

Aesch shows readers how to create a culture built around selflessness rather than ego, and get employees invested in saving the company.

In describing the transition from an ailing business to one that enjoys stunning success — lower fares, multimillion-dollar surpluses, and the highest ridership and customer satisfaction levels in twenty years — he offers powerful principles that any organization can implement to achieve exceptional results.

In a world where web services can make real-time data accessible to anyone, how can the government leverage this openness to improve its operations and increase citizen participation and awareness?

In Open Government: Collaboration, Transparency, And Participation In Practice, leading visionaries and practitioners both inside and outside the government share a collection of essays, case studies and ideas on how to achieve and direct this emerging world of online collaboration, transparency and participation.

Topics covered include:

  • The Single Point Of Failure
  • All Your Data Are Belong To Us: Liberating Government Data
  • When Is Transparency Useful?
  • Online Deliberation And Civil Intelligence
  • Engineering Good Government
  • Bringing The Web 2.0 Revolution To Government

Intellitics calls this work “a must-read for advocates, geeks, public sector thinkers and especially public officials and employees. An outstanding collection of essays and case studies that provide a substantial base for the open government debate.”