Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities

Questions of how to green the North American economy, create a greenenergy and transportation infrastructure, and halt the deadly increasein greenhouse gas buildup dominate our daily news. Related questions ofhow the design of cities can impact these challenges dominate thethoughts of urban planners and designers across the U.S. and Canada.With admirable clarity, Patrick Condon discusses transportation,housing equity, job distribution, economic development, and ecologicalsystems issues and synthesizes his knowledge and research into asimple-to-understand set of urban design rules that can, if followed,help save the planet.

No other book so clearly connects the form of our cities to theirecological, economic, and social consequences. No other book takes onthis breadth of complex and contentious issues and distills them downto such convincing and practical solutions. And no other book sovividly compares and contrasts the differing experiences of U.S. andCanadian cities.

Of particular new importance is how city form affects the production ofplanet-warming greenhouse gases. The author explains this relationshipin an accessible way, and goes on to show how conforming to sevensimple rules for community design could literally do a world of good.Each chapter in the book explains one rule in depth, adding a wealth ofresearch to support each claim. If widely used, Condon argues, theserules would lead to a much more livable world for futuregenerations—a world that is not unlike the better parts of ourown.