Sustainable Communities: A New Design Synthesis for Cities, Suburbs and Towns

Peter Calthorpe & Sim Van der Ryn

In this persuasive and evocative book, two authorities on appropriate technology have assembled a practical vision of how different types of Americans communities can make the transition to a more responsible way of life.  This new way of life encourages sustainability, reduces resource waste, balances consumption and production, and produces long-term social and ecological health. 

Abundantly illustrated with diagrams, photographs, and drawings, Sustainable Communities presents practical guidelines for urban and suburban renovation as well as new community planning.  It offers inspiring commentaries by leading-edge thinkers in the burgeoning field of "sane" redevelopment, including John Todd on the synthesis of biology and design and Paul Hawken on the economics of sustainability.  Contributors include Peter Calthorpe, Clare Cooper-Marcus, David Katz, Fred Reid, Sim Van der Ryn, Paul Hawken, David Morris, and John Todd.

"Sustainability implies that the use of energy and materials in an urban area be in balance with what the region can supply continuously through natural processes such as photosynthesis, biological decomposition, and the biochemical processes that support life.  The immediate implications of this principle are a vastly reduced energy budget for cities, and a smaller, more compact urban pattern interspersed with productive areas to collect energy, grow crops for food, fiber and energy and recycle wastes."  
-from the Introduction