A Legal Guide to Urban and Sustainable Development for Planners, Developers and Architects [Hardcover]

Daniel K. Slone (Author), Doris S. Goldstein (Author), W. Andrew Gowder (Contributor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0470053291 | ISBN-13: 978-0470053294 | Publication Date: August 18, 2008 | Edition: 1

Written by pioneering attorneys in the emerging fields of urbanism and green building, A Legal Guide to Urban and Sustainable Development for Planners, Developers and Architects offers you practical solutions for legal issues you may face in planning, zoning, developing, and operating such communities. Find information on legal issues related to urban form, legal mechanisms and ways to incorporate good urban design into local land regulation, overcoming impediments to sound urban design practice, and state and Federal issues related to the legal issues of urban design and planning.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In short, this book is an excellent resource and one that should be read and used as a reference for project design and implementation." (Lawoftheland.com, 10/11/08)

"…is a primer for practicing architects, urban designers, and urban planners on legal and contractual issues that accompany the emerging field of sustainable urban design." (Green InSight Newsletter, Oct 2008)

"Immensely practical, this guidebook is loaded with techniques that can enable New Urbanism to jump hurdles erected by the legal system, the political apparatus, and the day-to-day difficulties of community life. Each chapter stands on its own, and there are case studies and dozens of sidebars, so you can read the book from start to finish or you can jump in and out. This book is so informative that new urbanists will soon be asking themselves how they ever got along without it." (New Urban News, September 2008)

From the Back Cover

Practical guide to the legal issues of using urbanist and sustainable development principles

By examining and explaining the particular legal issues that accompany urbanist design and sustainable development, this timely book shows urban planners, developers, designers, and architects how to make the law work for them in planning and executing sustainable urban projects. Written by experienced attorneys, this book thoroughly explains the practical implications of the current law and legal theories surrounding urbanism and sustainability, and forecasts its future directions.

Using case studies, photographs, and illustrations, this book offers real-world solutions to the legal issues of urban and sustainable development, including:

• Incorporating good urban design principles into local land regulation

• Overcoming impediments to urban and sustainable design practice

• Getting projects built and codes changed within the existing zoning framework

• Using fundamentally new approaches to zoning

• Managing and coping with litigation

• Structuring and operating the mixed-use common interest community

• Understanding legal issues specific to urbanist building types

• Avoiding unnecessary conflicts between urbanist codes and sustainability codes

Collectively, the authors have handled every aspect of urbanist law. The two lead authors, Daniel K. Slone and Doris S. Goldstein, are attorneys who are pioneers in the field, having worked with architects, planners, city officials, and developers at the vanguard of urban planning and sustainability. Their comments and firsthand experience, interspersed throughout the book, help illuminate how the law governs day-to-day planning and development activities.

The movements toward sustainable and urbanist development are changing the landscape of America. Armed with this book, you can confidently navigate through the law as you initiate an urban development project and see it to fruition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (August 18, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470053291
• ISBN-13: 978-0470053294
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 1.1 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #609,661 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #26 in Books > Law > Administrative Law > Housing & Urban Development

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book will save you from big problems, October 26, 2008

By 

Jim H (San Diego) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Legal Guide to Urban and Sustainable Development for Planners, Developers and Architects (Hardcover)

Benjamin Franklin said, "Experience is the best teacher, and a fool knows no other." This book shows how to avoid the hundreds of mistakes (of design, contract and organization) frequently made by developers of urbanist communities, i.e., walkable, real estate developments and communities that follow pre-1940 design principles. Read this book to build a better project, avoid exasperation and litigation, and to improve sleep. The authors have more legal experience in this niche than any others in the country. It is pretty much a sure thing that some paragraph in it will save you from big problems. I actually think it'd be kind of dumb not to buy it. Reading it from cover to cover might be too much to chew. Instead, pick and choose the parts that relate to your project.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At last, a practical handbook on urbanism, October 21, 2008

By 

John E. Graham (Serenbe, Atlanta GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Legal Guide to Urban and Sustainable Development for Planners, Developers and Architects (Hardcover)

This work by Doris Goldstein and Dan Slone fills a large gap in the subject of law and New Urbanism, a gap particularly daunting for the non-legal mind. It is filled with practical advice, timely warnings, and digestible facts. A particularly useful document when in the hands of the non-lawyers among us.