The Smart Growth Manual
by Andres Duany and Jeff Speck with Mike Lydon. McGraw-Hill. 2009. 240 pages. $24.95.
Urban growth is inevitable, so let us plan ahead for it to make sure that it takes place in the most orderly ways possible, argue design consultants Andres Duany and Jeff Speck in The Smart Growth Manual.
“No-growth” campaigns rarely if ever succeed, they note, and often serve to undercut needed planning—so when growth does resume, it is even more haphazard and wasteful.
If given the chance, local discussion sessions among city officials and residents can minimize growth’s worst side effects and help keep neighborhood enlargement from degenerating into urban sprawl. If successful, they will design mixed-use neighborhoods that treat all residents with equity. They will also harmonize urban and rural areas, and live in accordance with their regions’ natural resource and water supplies.
The authors outline fundamental principles of smart growth, instructions for formulating a growth blueprint, and making optimum arrangements for convenient mass transit. They also cover affordable housing, vibrant neighborhood life, and conservation of energy, land, and water.
The Smart Growth Manual is an attractive, well-illustrated guidebook for building cities that will offer high quality living in the present and the future.
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