Envisioning Better Communities

What might readers concerned with federalism and intergovernmental relations find interesting about a book on local planning and design for better community character? At first glance, Arendt—an American landscape planner trained in Scotland who worked for decades in the northeastern United States with planning commissioners, historic preservationists, landscape architects, and land conservationists—might lead us to believe, “not much.” The book is explicitly a technical tome written for a practitioner audience (viz., planning boards and local officials), the kind of volume APA Press tends to publish. The central purpose of the book is to help local planners “ensure that the character of their communities is not further eroded by insensitive development, [and] encourage new development or redevelopment that will make a positive contribution to the way their community looks and functions” (p. xi, emphasis in original). The book, laid out in landscape page orientation and lush with photos, consists of five parts plus introduction, conclusion, and appendices (the latter detailing survey results, model ordinances, and further reading). Arendt expects readers will peruse based on exigencies rather than read cover to cover.

Character (mathematics) · Environmental ethics · Planner · Political science · Public relations · Publication · Reading (process) · Redevelopment · Sociology · Computer Science · Law · Public Administration · Rural development and sustainability · Urban Planning and Governance