There is a lovely "small city gardens" chapter in Front yard gardens: growing more than grass by Liz Primeau. This is one of my favorite gardening books of late because she really makes a convincing argument against growing just grass in the front yard. Some of the design ideas in that chapter especially are intriguing, helping you to open up your mind to think of different ways to create a tiny oasis in an urban environment. In addition to the many garden examples she gives suggestions on structure, focal point, types of gardens, and plants. Anyone else read this book?