"It has been a decade since I read the first edition, and I was struck by how useful the information is to rural and urban alike. In many ways the title of the book is a misnomer, because this book is a great tool for new urbanists, small town enthusiasts and those that want to preserve and enhance the open space we all need."
Christopher Parker, Assistant City Manager: Director of Planning and Strategic Initiatives, City of Dover, NH
"The second edition of Rural by Design is worth the 20 years necessary for its update. Arendt's latest work is thorough and well researched.. This is a must -have book for every planner's library. The concepts are transferable and clear, and the rationale is directly on point and understandable to all audiences."
Rick Bernhardt, FAICP, Executive Director, Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County Planning Department
"Randall Arendt has managed to take a great book and make it even better. This newest version has been expanded to make it even richer in content, including nearly doubling the number of case studies and graphics. It has also evolved to remain relevant to current planning philosophies."
Philip Walker, AICP, Principal, The Walker Collaborative, Nashville, TN
"Rural by Design is not just for practitioners in small cities and suburbanizing towns. New Urbanists will also profit from an array of strategies and examples for concentrating development and minimizing impacts. Most of all, it provides professors in planning and landscape architecture a text for their most important task: training students to apply ideals and principles in practice."
Bruce Stephenson, Professor of Environmental Studies, Rollins College, Winter Park, FL
"As a professor of urban planning, I have found the second edition of Randall Arendt’s Rural by Design an indispensable text for students pursuing sustainable urban planning and design. The book takes townscape planning to the next level with practical approaches that develop vacant land, redevelop existing neighborhoods and integrate the built with the natural environment. Transect planning, form-based codes, green infrastructure and conservation subdivision design are among many contemporary approaches illustrated in this updated edition. The book is easy to grasp, clearly written and illustrated with artful color graphics. The book’s appendix also features 84 case studies that reinforce townscape planning concepts serving as material for class exercises. In the process, Arendt persuasively demonstrates how townscape planning strategies can effectively implement sustainable development principles and practices. Rural by Design remains an essential resource for students and practitioners of urban planning and design."
Russell J. Fricano, Ph.D, AICP, Assistant Professor, Urban and Regional Studies Institute, Minnesota State University, Mankato, MN
"The new edition of Rural by Design is an important addition to my undergraduate environmental planning courses and is a valuable follow up to the original classic text that became a driving force in the conservation design movement in the US. It builds on the original concepts while including broader coverage of non-residential development. As with the first, this edition includes a sequential topical format, thoughtful and concise interpretations, applicable case studies and excellent supporting graphics. It's a great achievement and will have a lasting impact on development here and abroad."
Eric Sanden, Professor of Conservation and Environmental Planning, University of Wisconsin-River Falls
"This updated version of the 20-year-old classic is a how-to guide to creating walkable towns in rural and urbanizing suburban North America, bursting with examples, many not yet built when the original book was written. It also shows how metropolitan residents can have a connection to nature that is so crucial for human settlements no matter the density. We are witnessing the end of sprawl, and this book provides the blueprint for how it is being replaced by environmentally sustainable, socially equitable, and economically successful ways of building the country. The book is truly a masterpiece."
Christopher B. Leinberger, Nonresident Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution and Charles Bendit Distinguished Scholar and Research Professor of Urban Real Estate Chair, Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis, George Washington University School of Business, Washington, DC
"Rural by Design represents a lifetime of experience and wisdom. Randall Arendt is a passionate proponent of the value of good design for planning more humane and healthy communities. His grasp of the history of planning new communities — and his deep personal involvement in making numerous plans across the United States — inform Rural by Design . This expanded edition includes considerable new information, notably concerning sustainability. Arendt's clear and informative writing make Rural by Design an invaluable resource for practitioners, educators, and students in planning, landscape architecture, architecture, civil engineering, law, and real estate."
Frederick Steiner, Dean and Paley Professor for the University of Pennsylvania School of Design
"The new edition of Rural by Design is a definitive text. In 1994 Randall Arendt offered an important template to counter suburban sprawl. Centered on the conservation subdivision, Rural by Design enlightened policy and regulations were recalibrated. In the past two decades, conservation subdivisions have protected 180,000 acres of natural and rural land. At the same time, Arendt was updating his repertoire. His new book is thoughtful and richly illustrated. Mitigating sprawl is still at the forefront, but it also addresses the growing focus on infill development. Analyses of pocket neighborhoods, complete streets, waterway daylighting, and habitat restoration reveal how sustainable human environments can be crafted in an urban setting. Arendt is at his best in a chapter devoted to greenways. Mixing historic principle and innovation, he presents a series of projects that guide development on lines of ecology, health, equity, and profit. Rural by Design as a guide. Rural by Design is not just for practitioners in small cities and suburbanizing towns. New Urbanists will also profit from an array of strategies and examples for concentrating development and minimizing impacts. Most of all, Rural by Design provides professors in planning and landscape architecture a text for their most important task: training students to apply ideals and principles in practice."
Bruce Stephenson, Professor of Environmental Studies, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida
If you have an interest in planning as a form or a function, this book will be educational, entertaining, and evocative. In this edition, [author Randall] Arendt has successfully pulled together many diverse areas of planning practice and, most importantly, he communicates their value and their impacts in a vibrant and highly readable manner. As I read the text and browsed the clear illustrations, I was struck by how useful the information is to rural and urban alike. This book is a great tool for new urbanists, small-town enthusiasts, and those who want to preserve and enhance the open space we all need.
What a delight to find not just a new edition to a great foundational work but a total modernization and sharing of the most current capture of town form and planning history. Standing on Arendt’s shoulders to inform your next work, or to just broaden your knowledge or plan of action in your community, is just one of many benefits to be drawn from this deep well.
Rural by Design, Second Edition comprehensively links different areas of planning practice in a new and unique way. Most importantly, Randall Arendt connects form-based placemaking, creating vibrant, and walkable human habitats with the preservation and enhancement of natural and cultural landscapes. He also squarely faces the political, economic, and practical obstacles that confront both robust urbanism and effective land preservation. By weaving together diverse strands of planning practice, this magnificently illustrated book shows how to improve our human habitat while preserving the fragile ecological systems on which we all depend.
The new edition of Rural by Designis part reference manual, part guidebook and part inspiration. It should be on the shelf of every planner, developer, and citizen interested in better land development. This book proves that small towns can grow without losing the attributes that make them unique and valuable. We have choices for how we grow. Randall Arendt’s new book tells us what they are and how to achieve them.
This updated version of the 20-year-old classic is a how-to guide to creating walkable towns in rural and urbanizing suburban North America, bursting with examples, many not yet built when the original book was written. It also shows how metropolitan residents can have a connection to nature that is so crucial for human settlements no matter the density. We are witnessing the end of sprawl, and this book provides the blueprint for how it is being replaced by environmentally sustainable, socially equitable, and economically successful ways of building the country.
Christopher B. Leinberger
Rural by Design: Planning for Town and Country (second edition) is a valuable resource for anyone interested in how to promote and protect small-town quality of life through proactive community design strategies. Arendt’s new edition is a comprehensive, extremely readable, and practical resource for staff as well as local leaders and community partners. His inclusion of critical lessons learned over the past 20 years, illustrated case examples, and new emphasis on greenways as a recurring theme in town planning are especially helpful in education and advocacy work.
If you liked the first Rural by Design as much as I did, you will likethe second editioneven more. Randall Arendt has gone well beyond the typical update to this classic planning text book. He has made it highly relevant and useful to practicing planners by a more broadly defined notion of ‘rural’ that will help planners, developers, policy makers, and citizens to improve the quality of our ‘urbanizing’ suburbs, and to make better land-use and development decisions for rapidly growing communities. If you are a planning student, practicing planner, or land-use policymaker, I highly encourage you to consult this volume, asit is a planner’s treasure chest. I find it incredibly inspiring and applicable to contemporary practice.
The new second edition of Rural by Design is much, much more than an updating of the original, seminal volume. Arendt has expanded the book considerably and covers many recent trends in urban planning and design. While it still emphasizes the rural context, it covers many topics relevant to urban and suburban areas. What makes this new work especially valuable is that it includes thoughtful discussion about the practical challenges facing communities in implementing strategies to become more livable and sustainable. It is easy to read, has many photographs and illustrations, and includes numerous case studies from a wide range of contexts. This is a book that should become a standard reference for every planner
Randall Arendt has done it again! The second edition of Rural by Design focuses on newly emerging trends evident in rural Hunterdon County, New Jersey, such as focusing development in town centers, broadening housing choice, and creating greenways. The reemergence of historic town centers, the desire for increased connectivity, and a defined vision for a sustainable future are all highlighted within the pages and photographs of this book. The new Rural by Design will, no doubt, become a standard for all planning professionals.
The second edition of Rural by Design is worth the 20 years necessary for its update. This book is a tremendous resource explaining the issues associated with successful land conversion and the absolute importance of design as the fundamental component of the preservation of place. Arendt’s latest work is thorough and well researched. It provides planners with the critical tools necessary to actually create great places, especially at the rural and suburban end of the transect, by explaining the best of historic town-building principles and updating them with the latest in current practice. This is a must -have book for every planner’s library. The concepts are transferable and clear, and the rationale is directly on point and understandable to all audiences.
Rural by Design represents a lifetime of experience and wisdom. Randall Arendt is a passionate proponent of the value of good design for planning more humane and healthy communities. His grasp of the history of planning new communities — and his deep personal involvement in making numerous plans across the United States — inform Rural byDesign. This expanded edition includes considerable new information, notably concerning sustainability. Arendt’s clear and informative writing make Rural by Design an invaluable resource for practitioners, educators, and students in planning, landscape architecture, architecture, civil engineering, law, and real estate.
In this update to his classic book, Randall continues to shape rural planning by integrating current discussions of town centers, sustainability, biophilia, and green infrastructure into his timeless advice for maintaining rural character, creating a detailed reference guide that everyone involved in planning the towns and open spaces of the American countryside should have at their side. Though full of case studies and supporting facts, this edition is organized to give quick, easy access to the practical tools needed to create great places.
