This book introduces community planning as practiced in the United States, focusing on the comprehensive plan. Sometimes known by other names—especially master plan or general plan—the type of plan described here is the predominant form of general governmental planning in the U.S. Although many government agencies make plans for their own programs or facilities, the comprehensive plan is the only planning document that considers multiple programs and that accounts for activities on all land located within the planning area, including both public and private property. Written by a former president of the American Planning Association, Community Planning is thorough, specific, and timely. It addresses such important contemporary issues as sustainability, walkable communities, the role of urban design in public safety, changes in housing needs for a changing population, and multi-modal transportation planning. Unlike competing books, it addresses all of these topics in the context of the local comprehensive plan. There is a broad audience for this book: planning students, practicing planners, and individual citizens who want to better understand local planning and land use controls. Boxes at the end of each chapter explain how professional planners and individual citizens, respectively, typically engage the issues addressed in the chapter. For all readers, Community Planning provides a pragmatic view of the comprehensive plan, clearly explained by a respected authority.

This book is the first to tell the story of conservation by local government and private land trusts in California. It describes the remarkable extent to which communities have protected their landscapes and draws lessons for disseminating successful preservation strategies across the country. Using archival research, in-depth interviews with open space advocates in local government and private land trusts, and a telephone survey of over four thousand California residents, Daniel Press describes land preservation efforts pursued by California communities and explains why some have succeeded better than others. Saving Open Space concludes with policy recommendations based on lessons learned from the preservation success stories.

Gaining an understanding of the recreation and parks profession is crucial to success in the field and to effective leadership within the field. Recreation and Parks: The Profession is a one-of-a-kind resource that delineates the components that make this complex field a profession. Written by well-known recreation authority Betty van der Smissen, this book -defines the marks of the recreation and parks profession and identifies the steps involved in becoming a professional in the field; -profiles 62 professional organizations within the profession; -provides a Web site that features a time line of the development of areas and organizations of the profession and the most up-to-date Web addresses for organizations detailed in the text; -outlines a comparative history of 15 categories of the recreation and parks field in the United States and Canada; and -presents a classic-to-contemporary bibliography of resources that showcases an inclusive body of knowledge on the profession. Part I describes recreation and parks as a profession and provides students with steps to lay a solid foundation to become a professional. Part II grounds readers with a comparative historical overview of the recreation and parks field from the 1500s to the present day. The author divides the field into 15 categories and offers suggestions on how to use the time line. Part III profiles 62 professional organizations. Each profile includes the organization's mission, goals, structure, history, publications, services, and professional credentialing information. In addition, it lists the organization's Web sites, contact information, and other vital information that students use in completing course work, in applying for internships, and in researching various aspects of the profession. Part IV contains a bibliography of selected resources on recreation and parks, from classic to the present. Recreation and Parks: The Profession includes a Web site that not only provides links to other current Web sites for the organizations profiled, but it also is linked to a color-coded version of the time line. The time line is ready to download, print, and use in the classroom or office. This version of the time line provides the most effective way to obtain an overall picture of the historical comparison of the categories in the recreation and parks profession. Recreation and Parks: The Profession is a unique resource for students, professors, and professionals in recreation and parks. The text brings together the important aspects of the field as a profession.