In praise of community design

Community by Design: New Urbanism for Suburbs and Small Communities joins a long list of books extolling the virtues of mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented neighborhood planning. This book, by landscape architects Kenneth Hall and Gerald Porterfield, is nonideological and straightforward. It will appeal to designers and developers who are more concerned with making a good place than with larger questions of inner city revitalization, transit connections, and regional planning. Community by Design is intended to be a handbook, and it truly starts at the beginning — i.e. what information does a designer need, and how does one start the design process. Published by McGraw-Hill: www. pbg.mcgraw-hill/architecture.