Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0871568004 ISBN 13: 9780871568007

Publisher: Sierra Club Books, 1986

This classic text is a practical vision of how different types of communities can make the transition to a sustainable way of life that balances production and consumption, reduces resource waste and produces long-term social and ecological health. Our old patterns of growth are built on isolation―an isolation from the environment, an isolation between activities and ultimately an isolation between individuals. Whether city or suburb, these qualities of isolation are the same. Buildings ignore climate and place, uses are zoned into separate areas, and individuals are isolated by a lack of convivial public places. Sustainable patterns break down the separations; buildings respond to the climate rather than overpowering it, mixed uses draw activities and people together, and shared spaces reestablish community. -from Sustainable Communities

About the Author:

Sim Van der Ryn is a visionary, author, educator, architect and public leader, and has been described by the New York Times as an "intrepid pioneer on the eco-frontier". For more than 40 years, Sim has been at the forefront of integrating ecological principles into the built environment. He served as California's first energy-conscious State Architect, authored seven influential books, and won numerous honors and awards for his leadership and innovation in architecture & planning. Sim's collaborative approach and meta-disciplinary accomplishments help show the way to an evolving planetary era that values both the integrity of ecological systems and the quality of life. He is Professor Emeritus in Architecture at the University of California where he taught from 1961 to 1995, and president of the Eco-Design Collaborative (www.ecodesign.org) based in Inverness, California.

Peter Calthorpe has been instrumental in redefining the models of urban and suburban growth in America over the past three decades. His long and honored career in urban design, planning, and architecture began in 1976, combining his experience in each discipline to develop new approaches to urban revitalization, suburban growth, and regional planning.

From Publishers Weekly:

By "sustainable communities," the authors mean largely self-reliant cities and towns whose use of fossil fuels has been sharply cut and whose economies are in balance with what the region can supply through natural processes. The bioregional approach, which some will deride as utopian, links the essays in this often provocative volume, the outgrowth of a "Solar Cities Design" workshop. Contributors include architects, community planners, ecologists and biologists. Case studies that demonstrate how human-scale communities could be built range from the undeveloped Chino Hills near Los Angeles to Philadelphia's gentrified neighborhoods. One essay faults agribusiness for its massive waste of land, energy and human resources; another calls for smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. While it has the disconnected feel of a volume of symposium proceedings, this book offers innovative solutions to the renewal of communities. Photos.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.