Envisioning Better Communities, the new planning book by Randall Arendt, is a gem. (Full disclosure: Randall Arendt is a dedicated member of LandChoices. I’m a big fan.) 

This week I received a review copy of the book from the American Planning Association. I will review the book in a series of blog posts.

The subtitle, Seeing More Options, Making Wiser Choices, rings true. I’m a big believer in offering citizen planners better choices to avoid the kind of needless destruction that happened to my childhood town.

In the preface Randall Arendt says, “Part of the problem is that much change is incremental, gradually occurring one development at a time, making it difficult to perceive the cumulative impact.” So true.

The thing I like most about Envisioning Better Communities is that the book is “intended to supplement the meager training that local planning board members receive in most states…”  Written in a way that makes it easy for anyone without a formal planning background to understand, I think it will be a big hit with citizen planners. The book includes a wonderful chapter on conservation subdivision design.

I own and have read all of Randall Arendt’s books, and cherish each one for it’s practicality. This one is my favorite due to it’s simplicity.

“This is precisely the kind of tool local planners need,” author Bill Mckibben said in a testimonial to the book. I wholeheartedly agree. More soon.

Learn more about Envisioning Better Communities.

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