Planning: Planning Resources Overview
Key Library Links:
- Libraries' Catalog – to locate any item that is available in our libraries, including books, journals, newspapers, and audio/visual materials.
- Everything – the tab is a great place to start searching through the library’s resources in one simple multidisciplinary search interface. The results will display books, articles, government documents, etc.
- Journals- is a database of electronic journals that are indexed in databases or found online. (Cannot search for articles, citation is needed)
- Reserve – or Course Reserve: a collection of books or articles (pdfs) set aside at the Circulation Desk by your professor.
- Top Planning Databases - Planning research databases
- Research Tips – an online guide designed to help you perform research at the University at Buffalo’s University Libraries, includes citation help. Center for Excellence in Writing - 209 Baldy Hall
- My Account & Delivery+ – use for book renewal and interlibrary loan. Journal articles and book chapters are delivered electronically to your email and physical items are made available for pick-up at the UB library of your choice. (free of charge)
Borrowing/Loan Periods: Your UB Card serves as your library card. Current UB students, faculty and staff may use their cards to check out books and other materials at any campus library.
UB Libraries & UB Quota for Printing: semester "allowance" free printing for UB students.
Best Starting Points:
Background info:;
Gale Virtual Reference Library - includes subject encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference works in broad subject areas, including issues related to planning.
Oxford Handbooks Online - a collection of Oxford Handbooks in four subject modules - Business and Management; Philosophy; Political Science; and Religion. Each handbook takes an aspect of its discipline and unpacks it, explaining the key issues, the classic and contemporary debates on those issues, and setting the agenda for how those debates might evolve.;
Best Basic Resources Guide (created by UB Libraries)
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Google BooksWell over 15,000,000 books and magazine issues may be searched in Google Books. The numbers grow daily as Google moves forward with its mission of scanning literally all the world's books and magazines. Even materials that are not readable full text are nonetheless searchable. Some texts (pre-1923) may be read in their entirety; while others may be read across a limited number of pages (20% of the book) in 'preview' mode and some are only viewable in snippet view. The latter is the least useful to researchers. For further details visit: http://books.google.com/googlebooks/library/screenshots.html
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Google Scholaro Click on "Settings" in the upper right-hand corner.
o Click on "Library Links" on the left-hand side
o On the next screen, type University at Buffalo into the "Library Links" box.
o Scroll down and click on "Save"
o Start searching.
o When you link to a full-text article from off campus you will be presented with a log-in screen. Log in with your UBIT name and password.
Statistical Information & Maps:
American FactFinder - American Factfinder is the primary source for finding US Census data, including population, housing, economic, and geographic data. Data provided includes selected statistics from the 1990 Census of Population and Housing, such as population, education, ethnicity, and much more. Users can enter a zip code for a particular location and obtain a customized chart for the zipcode area. A text factsheet for the zipcode area can also be printed out. An outstanding place to begin a demographic profile.
Social Explorer -Reproduces statistical reports and maps based upon U.S. decennial censuses, the American Community Survey (ACS), and data collected by the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA).
-Search by maps or tables or create customized thematic anc interactive maps using historical and census data. Data reports can be exported saved and printed.
-Census Data Available includes: 1790-1930: Covers county, state and national data. 1940-2000: Coverage varies depending upon the year. Geographies include tracts, places, counties, zip codes, Congressional districts, states, and the nation.
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County Business Patterns (CBP)-U.S., States, and Counties tables start from 1998 to current year.
-Puerto Rico tables start from 2003 to current year.
-Island Areas tables start from 2008 to current year.
-ZIP Codes tables start from 1998 to current year.
-Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas tables start from 1998 to current year.
-Congressional District tables start from 2013 to current year.
EndNote and Citation Guidance
EndNote: a software tool for managing references. EndNote helps you organize bibliographic references to journal articles, book chapters, Web sites and other information sources. References can be downloaded from UB Libraries' databases directly into a personal EndNote database known as a Library in EndNote terminology. Bibliographies can be created and formatted in over a thousand standard style formats including APA, MLA, Chicago, Vancouver, and others..;
Annotated Bibliography: an annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.
Literature Review: it is a product and a process.
As a product, it is a carefully written examination, interpretation, evaluation, and synthesis of the publisher literature related to your topic. It focuses on what is known about your topic and what methodologies, models, theories, and concepts have been applied to it by others.
The process is what is involved in conducting a review of the literature.
- It is ongoing
- It is iterative (repetitive)
- It involves searching for and finding relevant literature.
- It includes keeping track of your references and preparing and formatting them for the bibliography of your thesis.
Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL): a detailed guide to APA, MLA, and Chicago citation styles, access "Research and Citation" on the left to for citation style help.
Useful Books:
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Encyclopedia of Community
by Call Number: APL Reference: HM756 .E53 2003ISBN: 0761925988Publication Date: 2003-06-23Arranged from A-Z, an interdisciplinary format of “compare and contrast” among topics such as types of communities, social capital, technology, urban life, politics and law, community design, and global studies. -
The Planner's Use of Information
by Call Number: APl Reference: HT391 .P54 2003ISBN: 1884829724Publication Date: 2003-09-01Summarizes basic methods and information resources essential to planners. Provides detailed, useful discussion of field methods of collecting information; survey methods; information from secondary sources, analytical methods; working with small groups; public participation; computers and planning; speaking skills; written communications; graphic communication; and planning in the political context. Many chapters contain applications and bibliographies. -
Planning and Urban Design Standards
by Call Number: APL Circulation Desk: TH2031 .P55 2006ISBN: 0471475815Publication Date: 2006-02-03From the publishers of Architectural Graphic Standards, this book, created under the auspices of The American Planning Association, is the most comprehensive reference book on urban planning, design, and development available today. Contributions from more than two hundred renowned professionals provide rules of thumb and best practices for mitigating such environmental impacts as noise, traffic, aesthetics, preservation of green space and wildlife, water quality, and more. You get in-depth information on the tools and techniques used to achieve planning and design outcomes, including economic analysis, mapping, visualization, legal foundations, and real estate developments. Thousands of illustrations, examples of custom work by today's leading planners, and insider information make this work the new standard in the field. -
Practical Research
by Call Number: APL General Book Collection: Q180.55 .M4 L43 2013ISBN: 0132693240Publication Date: 2012-01-06Written in uncommonly engaging and elegant prose, Practical Research: Planning and Design is a "do-it-yourself, understand-it-yourself" manual designed to help students in any discipline understand the fundamental structure of quality research and the methodical process that leads to valid and reliable results. The authors emphasize two things: 1) that quality research demands planning and design; and, 2) how research projects can be executed effectively and professionally. This text guides the reader, step-by-step, from the selection of a problem, through the process of conducting authentic research, to the preparation of a completed report, with practical suggestions based on a solid theoretical framework and sound pedagogy. With broad coverage applicable to any discipline, Practical Research is valuable to students planning to conduct their own research projects as well as to anyone wanting to participate in thoughtful, methodical evaluation of published research reports. -
The Routledge handbook of planning research methods
by Call Number: APL General Book Collection: HT165.5 .R68 2014ISBN: 0415727952Publication Date: 2014-11-17The Routledge Handbook of Planning Research Methods is an expansive look at the traditions, methods, and challenges of research design and research projects in contemporary urban planning. Through case studies, an international group of researchers, planning practitioners, and planning academics and educators, all recognized authorities in the field, provide accounts of designing and implementing research projects from different approaches and venues. This book shows how to apply quantitative and qualitative methods to projects, and how to take your research from the classroom to the real world. The book is structured into sections focusing on Beginning planning research Research design and development Rediscovering qualitative methods New advances in quantitative methods Turning research into action With chapters written by leading scholars in spatial planning, The Routledge Handbook of Planning Research Methods is the most authoritative and comprehensive handbook on the topic, providing both established and ground breaking coverage of spatial planning research methods. The book is an invaluable resource for undergraduate and graduate level students, young professionals and practitioners in urban, regional, and spatial planning. -
RSMeans Square Foot Costs
by Call Number: Health Sciences Library APL Reference and Hayes Hall Reading Room: TH435 .M44ISBN: 1943215189Publication Date: 2015-11-02Means Square Foot Costs 2016 This easy-to-use guide gives you the building components required to develop accurate assemblies-level cost estimates, evaluate trade-off costs, and verify unit price estimates. Be prepared to estimate any job with this indispensable cost reference. An accurate estimate of costs to build your particular project depends on location, project scope, specific components used and current market conditions. -
Time-Saver Standards for Urban Design
by Call Number: APL: HT166 .T47 2003ISBN: 007068507XPublication Date: 2003-03-14Covers significant topics such as design issues and principles, analysis, methodology, and technical details essential for planning, as well as case studies. Also includes classic writings by the leading thinkers in urban planning and discussions of cities considered exemplars in urban planning and design. -
Urban Design Handbook
by Call Number: APL: NA9105 .U73 2003ISBN: 0393731065Publication Date: 2003-01-17A guide that offers an introductory course in urbanism as well as an operations manual for architects, planners, developers, and public officials.
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World Housing EncyclopediaThe Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and the International Association for Earthquake Engineering have teamed up to create the World Housing Encyclopedia (WHE): a database that provides information about housing construction in parts of the world vulnerable to earthquakes. As of this write-up, this collection includes 130 reports, which visitors can browse via an interactive map on WHE's homepage. These reports provide details about the type of housing construction by region, along with information about the region's terrain. Visitors can also search this database by building type and by, "how long this construction type has been practiced." As the team behind WHE explains, the aim of this website is to, "encourage the use of earthquake-resistant technologies worldwide."
