Professional Practice Networks
Community Design Resources
ASLA Design Resource Guides
Universal Design: Neighborhoods
If we want everyone to participate in public life, we must design and build an inclusive public realm that is accessible to all. Everyone navigates the built environment differently, with abilities changing across a person's lifespan. Landscape architects and designers plan and design inclusive spaces for all users.
Healthy and Livable Communities
Working with landscape architects, communities can promote human health and well-being by encouraging the development of environments that offer rich social, economic, and environmental benefits. Healthy, livable communities all improve the welfare and well-being of people by expanding the range of affordable transportation, employment, and housing choices through "Live, Work, Play" developments; incorporating physical activity into components of daily life; preserving and enhancing valuable natural resources; providing access to affordable, nutritious, and locally produced foods distributed for less cost; and creating a unique sense of community and place.
Sustainable Urban Development
Urban development should be guided by a comprehensive planning and management vision that includes interconnected green space, a multi-modal transportation system, and mixed-use development. Diverse public and private partnerships should be used to create livable communities that protect historic, cultural, and environmental resources.
Foundational Texts on Community Design
Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time / Jeff Speck, Hon. ASLA
Walkable City Rules: 101 Steps to Making Better Places / Jeff Speck, Hon. ASLA
Sprawl Repair Manual / Galina Tachieva
Pocket Neighborhoods: Creating Small-Scale Community in a Large-Scale World / Ross Chapin
Principles of Urban Retail Planning and Development / Robert J. Gibbs, ASLA
Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream / Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck, Hon. ASLA
Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design With Nature / Douglas Farr
Rural by Design: Maintaining Small Town Character / Randall Arendt
Conservation Design for Subdivisions: A Practical Guide To Creating Open Space Networks / Randall Arendt
The Death and Life of Great American Cities / Jane Jacobs
A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction / Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein
State Government Housing Contacts
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Additional ASLA Resources
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