Rural by Design: Maintaining Small Town Character

This book is recommended reading for planners preparing to take the AICP exam.

Conventional planning techniques just aren't working in many rural and suburbanizing areas. Developments where people merely exist have replaced neighborhoods where people once thrived. Strip malls and checkerboard subdivisions prevail. Randall Arendt argues convincingly that this scenario is not inevitable. In Rural by Design he advocates creative, practical land-use planning techniques to preserve open space and community character. He shows how developments all across America have used these techniques successfully.

This book examines a broad spectrum of nitty-gritty design topics in a lively, readable style. Topics range from sewage disposal and farmland preservation to greenway planning for interconnected open space and the design of rural subdivision streets. The book includes numerous case examples of residential, commercial, and mixed-use projects that have used these innovative design techniques. And it takes an in-depth look at the design elements of the traditional town—and how to reinvent those elements in today's communities.

Rural by Design appeals to a wide audience. Planners in small towns as well as rural and suburbanizing areas will find practical information to guide them on the job. Planning board members and interested laypeople will find a highly readable, nontechnical reference. And instructors in planning and allied fields will find a valuable textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses.

Arendt is vice president for conservation planning for the Natural Lands Trust in Media, Pennsylvania.