Aicher, Joseph, Designing Healthy Cities, Krieger, 1998.

American Farmland Trust, Saving American Farmland: What Works, American Farmland Trust, 1997.

A comprehensive reference publication on issues, strategies and techniques for preserving productive agricultural lands in the face of sprawl. Includes analysis of conservation tools, community case studies, state by state reference tables, and valuable economic information.

Arendt, Randall, Crossroads, Hamlet, Village, Town, American Planning Association Planners Advisory Service (PAS) Report No 487/488, 1999.

Arendt, Randall, Rural By Design: Maintaining Small Town Character. American Planning Association Planners Press, 1994.*

Focuses on design and policy issues to prevent the loss of small town character. Presents pertinent and useful information for town planners, local officials, citizen volunteers and local residents. Contains many examples of design focused on preserving a sense of place while accommodating growth.

Alexander, Christopher & others, A Pattern Language, Oxford University Press, 1977.

A classic cookbook for people-friendly design.

Beatley, Timothy & Kristy Manning, The Ecology of Place, Planning for Environment, Economy, and Community, Island Press, 1997.*

Beaumont, Constance E., How Superstore Sprawl Can Harm Communities, And what citizens can do about it, National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1994.

Beaumont, Constance E., Smart States, Better Communities, National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1996.

Bolier, David. How Smart Growth Can Stop Sprawl: a briefing guide for funders,
Essential Books, 1998.

An overview of the most important issues raised by sprawl. Emphasizes that sprawl is not a single issue but a complex melange of interconnected issues nested within the American way of life and sustained by rich mythologies and entrenched public policies. Examines sprawl from environmental, educational, racial, economic and quality of life perspectives while detailing strategies to revitalize cities and arrest sprawl. Includes resources section.

Boone, Nancy E, et al, Locating Telecommunications Towers in Historic Buildings, National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1999.

Brabec, Elizabeth and Kevin Kirby, Aesthetics and Commercial Districts, Scenic America Technical Series Vol 1, No 6, Scenic America, 1993.

Brabec, Elizabeth, Trees Make Cents, Scenic America Technical Information Series Vol 1, No 1, Scenic America, 1992.

Cullingworth, Barry, Planning in the USA, Routledge, 1997.

A view of the American planning system from an outside perspective. Revealing.

Dane Suzanne G., Main Street Success Stories, National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1997.*

Daniels, Tom & Deborah Bowers, Holding Our Ground, Island Press, 1997.

About successful farmland preservation.

Duany, Andres, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, & Jeff Speck, Suburban Nation, North Point Press, 2000.*

Duerksen, Christopher J., Aesthetics and Land-Use Controls, American Planning Association Planning Advisory Service (PAS), 1986.

Duerksen, Christopher J. & R. Matthew Goebel, Aesthetics, Community Character and the Law, American Planning Association Planning Advisory Service (PAS), 1999.

Ewing, Reid, Best Development Practices, Planners Press, 1996

Based on Florida experiences this book argues that good development can make money. Through case examples the author argues for placing shops and civic functions in the heart of communities, forming neighborhood clusters, calming traffic, preserving natural habitat and mixing housing types.

Fleming, Ronald Lee, Façade Stories, Changing Faces of Main Street Storefronts and How to Care for Them, The Townscape Institute and Hastings House Publishers, 1982.

Fleming, Ronald Lee, Saving Face, How Corporate Design Can Respect Community Identity, American Planning Association Planning Advisory Service (PAS), 1994.*

Case studies of how communities can ask for better franchise design for conserving their physical identity.

Garreau, Joel, Edge City, Life on the New Frontier, Doubleday, 1991.

Examines the phenomenon of the new metropolis called Edge Cities. Argues that the majority of Americans live, work and play around the modern office buildings, shopping plazas, and fitness centers of Edge Cities. Presents these modern urban centers as a profound and
elemental change in American urbanism.

Garvin, Alexander, The American City: What Works and What Doesn’t, McGraw-Hill, 1995.

Glassford, Peggy, Appearance Codes for Small Communities, American Planning Association Planning Advisory Service (PAS) Report No 379, 1983.

Graves, Ginny, Picture This!, an exercise in responsible citizenry, Center for Understanding the Built Environment (CUBE), 2001.

A middle grades curriculum devoted to understanding the planning process and its importance for designing places and preserving community character.

Grogan, Paul & Tony Proscio, Comeback Cities, Westview Press, 2000.

Why America’s cities are becoming good places to work and live.

Hale, Jonathon, The Old Way of Seeing, Houghton Mifflin, 1994.

Examines, in layman's terms, the principles that animate beautiful buildings, no matter what style or period. Points out how we can begin to repair the damage that has been done to our visual environment. Shows how we can recapture the lost magic of architecture and recover our sense of place.

Herr, Phillip, Saving Place: A Guide and Report Card for Protecting Community
Character, National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1995.

Includes an overview of community conservation in the Northeast, including a thirty question report card for assessing where a community might focus its efforts. Also includes a comprehensive listing of resources on protecting community character.

Herr, Phillip & James, Sarah, Place-Notes: Resources for Protecting Community Character, National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1995.

Explains, in understandable terms the planning tools that ordinary citizens should understand when considering their town's future. Topics include institutional structure, planning, controls such as building codes and zoning regulations, environmental controls, growth concerns, site level guidance and design review.

Hiss, Tony, The Experience of Place, Knopf, 1990.

Encourages us to look at our cities and countryside in a new way. Offers an innovative and readable proposal for new ways of planning, building and managing our most immediate and overlooked surroundings.

Hylton, Thomas, Save our Land, Save our Towns, RB Books, 1995*

Jackson, Kenneth T., Crabgrass Frontier, Oxford University Press, 1985.

Katz, Peter. The New Urbanism: Toward an Architecture of Community, McGraw-Hill, 1994.*

Kay, Jane Holtz, Asphalt Nation, University of California Press, 1997.*

Kunstler, James Howard, The Geography of Nowhere, The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape, Simon & Schuster, 1993.

Traces America's evolution from a nation of Main Streets and coherent communities to a land where everyplace is no place in particular. Argues that now that the great suburban build out is over, we are stuck with a national living arrangement that destroys civic life while imposing enormous social costs and economic burdens. Dramatically illustrates the consequences of community planning based on the automobile. Proposes a return to the sound principles of planning and the art of good place-making.

Moe, Richard & Carter Wilkie, Changing Places, Henry Holt, 1997.

A critique of sprawl from the president of a national preservation organization.

Morrish, William R. and Catherine R. Brown, Planning to Stay, Learning to see the physical features of your neighborhood, Design Center for American Urban Landscape, Milkweed Editions, 1994.

Nasa, Jack L., The Evaluative Image of the City, Sage Publications, 1998.

National Trust for Historic Preservation, Revitalizing Downtown, 1991.

O, Say Can You See: A Visual Awareness Tool Kit for Communities, Scenic America, 1999.

A how-to manual for citizen planners and communities to assess visual assets and learn how to protect them through planning projects. A Tool-oriented curriculum for high school and adults.

Oldenburg, Ray, The Great Good Place, Paragon House, 1989.

Low density American life styles lead to the loss of sense of place and belonging.

Potteiger, Mathew & Jamie Purinton, Landscape Narratives: design practices for telling stories, John Wiley and Sons, 1998.

Establishes a comprehensive framework for understanding the elements, processes and forms of landscape narratives. Narrative offers fascinating ways of knowing and shaping landscapes not typically acknowledged in conventional documentation, mapping, surveys or even in the formal concerns of design. Traces narratives of specific projects and places including New Jersey's Meadowlands and the road stories of Highway 61 in Mississippi.

Schneekloth, Lynda H. and Robert G. Shibley, Placemaking: the Art and Practice of Building Communities, John Wiley & Sons, 1995.
Southworth, Michael & Eran Bell-Joseph, Streets and the Shaping of Towns and Cities,
McGraw-Hill, 1997.

Explores the changing nature of suburban street design in America and Great Britain over the past two centuries. Chronicles streets from the beginnings of the industrial era, through the onset of the automobile age to the return to traditional neighborhood design today. Examines the effects of street standards and design on neighborhood character and livability, the evolution of design standards and the implications of various approaches to residential
street design.

Slafer, Anna & Kevin Cahill, Why Design? Activities and Projects from the National Building Museum, Chicago River Press, 1995.

A curriculum guide with multiple activities including the design process.

Smith , Herbert H., The Citizen’s Guide to Planning, American Planning Association, 1993.

Stokes, Samuel & Elizabeth Elizabeth, Saving America's Countryside, A Guide To Rural Conservation, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2nd ed.,1998.

Examines conservation of the unique character of rural communities. Suggests that towns on the edge of suburbia should fight for managed growth policies that respect nature's limits and exhibit reverence for the human environment created by earlier generations. Argues that America needs small towns and that we should resist the homogenization of our landscapes.

Strohmeier, Steven, Power to the People, Strategies for Reducing the Visual Impact of Overhead Utilities, Scenic America, 2001.

This Scenic America action guide details how communities can reduce the tangle of overhead utilities.

Sutro, Suzanne, Reinventing the Village, American Planning Association Planning Advisory Service (PAS) Report No 430, 1990.

Design standards for village-style development, including streetscapes and commercial districts.

Urban Places Project, The Youth Power Guide, How to Make Your Community Better, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2000.

An award-winning curriculum and guidebook on the planning process developed by students.

Vespe, Frank, Fighting Billboard Blight, An Action Guide for Citizens & Public Officials, Scenic America, 1999.