Planning for Sustainability

How can humanity sustain itself and thrive on a small planet? This challenge deepens in an era of right-wing populism, high levels of inequality, and climate crisis.

Planning for Sustainability presents a wide-ranging, intellectually well-grounded and accessible introduction to the concept of sustainability planning. The text explores how we might create more livable cities and towns, curtail greenhouse gas emissions, reduce social inequities, restore ecosystems, and bring about more sustainable forms of economic development.

More than simply a Third Edition, Planning for Sustainability has been extensively rewritten to provide a timely rethinking of sustainability planning, issues central to it, and scales of application. It emphasizes system change in order for other forms of progress to come about, and includes expanded material on climate action, housing, social equity, capitalism, democracy, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, and the developing world.

Planning for Sustainability considers each scale of planning—international, national, regional, municipal, neighborhood, and site and building—and illustrates how action at different scales interrelates. It lays out a hopeful and constructive view of the future in a time of growing challenge, and will be essential reading for students and practitioners of urban planning, urban design, landscape architecture, environmental policy, and related fields.