Sustainable Communities

"Sustainable Communities" examines the practicality of re-inventing local neighbourhoods in an increasingly mobile, privatized and commodified society. It presents the findings of a worldwide review of eco-villages and sustainable neighbourhoods, demonstrating what is possible. The book focuses on the ordinary localities in which people live, looking at the changing nature and role of local place communities, at the technologies (of energy, food, water, movement) that help close local resource loops and the potential for subsidiarity in decision making down to the local level. Written by an expert interdisciplinary team of town planners, social scientists and urban designers, it includes case studies from the UK, Denmark, Germany and the US, plus a detailed appendix listing current eco-village and eco-neighbourhood schemes by country.