David Sucher provides a guide for how designers and citizens can create an "urban village". What is an "urban village"? Sucher describes it as a city that gives us the intimacy and connection of a village, but with the scale and anonymity of a large city.

This book is filled with plenty of pictorial examples of design features that create the urban village feeling.

If you like this book, I highly recommend the excellent Responsive Environments: A Manual for Designers (1985) by Bentley, Alcock, Murrain, McGlynn, and Smith, which is also filled with thought-provoking visual examples. ( )

This book was recommended to me by another LibraryThing user who thought it would be a nice addition to my city planning collection. And I am eternially grateful for the recommendation because, indeed, this is a WONDERFUL book!

The author himself says it best in his intro: "This book is an attempt to refocus public policy discussion from abstract generalities, colored maps and grandiose projects to the details that create our daily experience. It is about a way of looking at and speaking about our immediate environment."

It's a truly wonderful collection of *real* elements of city planning that citizens *respond* to. It's a book I wish the policy makers in my own city read a few years ago when they set out to "update" my downtown - One that was nationally known for it's exceptional functionality. Over the past few years I've seen them take away beloved seating areas, artwork, public spaces, etc. and replace them with ineffective alternates.

It's an easy read, with photos illustrating every idea/concept - It will open your eyes to very simple concepts that may or may not be happening in your community. I think you will come away from the book enthused and engaged in your local urban environment. ( )