Envisioning Better Communities

Randall Arendt is a landscape planner, site designer, author, lecturer, and advocate. He is senior conservation advisor at the Natural Lands Trust and a fellow of the Royal Town Planning Institute. He is the author of more than 20 publications, including Rural by Design; Growing Greener; Crossroads, Hamlet, Village, Town; and Conservation Design for Subdivisions.

Few activities affect more powerfully the quality of life than the elementary design of our communities and the way they are blended with the natural environment. Randall Arendt has provided the rules to combine this vision with attainable goals. -E. O. Wilson, Harvard University Local officials and planners, in addition to developers and interested citizens, will find a true cornucopia of practical ideas for helping their communities grow with sense and grace. This book will become an extremely useful ready-reference to practitioners in towns and counties on both sides of the metro-edge, whether dealing with new sites or infill and redevelopment. -Judy Corbett, Executive Director, Local Government Commission Envisioning Better Communities reminds me of Christopher Alexander's Pattern Language, and I believe it is equal to that work. The well-constructed and easily understood procedures, logic, and graphics will appeal to a wide audience. Schools of planning and design will flock to have this in their libraries and studios. -Jon Rodiek, Texas A&M University; editor, Landscape & Urban Planning This is precisely the kind of tool local planners need. Most of us know in our gut what kind of communities we'd like to live in; this helps make it clearer what needs to happen for those wishes to come true. -Bill McKibben

• 1. Balancing Development and Conservation through Community-wide Planning 2. Conservation Subdivision Design Recommended Procedures 3. Residential Neighborhood Design Principles 4. Improving Downtown Appearance and Viability 5. Transforming Highway Commercial Strips into Mixed Use Centers 6. Conclusion: Where to Go from Here