Smart Growth Resource Library

New Geographies of the American West: Land Use and the Changing Patterns of Place

Land Use and the Changing Patterns of Place is a sweeping diagnosis of land use trends in the West and a prescription for better planning and policy decisions. Authored by 2005-2006 Orton Family Foundation Fellow and University of Colorado-Boulder Professor of Geography, William Travis, this is the first book in a series that explores the complex land use issues underlying many of the nation's most pressing social problems while highlighting new models and visions for vibrant and sustainable communities.

Travis takes a geographer's approach to analyzing development trajectories in the West, replacing speculation and wishful thinking with a comprehensive assessment of regional land use trends. He zeroes in on the Driving, Enabling and Shaping forces behind current growth patterns and projects development into the future, examining the likely effects of regional ''build-out'' in a compelling ''what if we do nothing?'' scenario. Travis tackles potential solutions as well, describing and prescribing a regional smart growth toolkit, along with models of effective and innovative land use planning in the West.

Finally, he offers a new strategy for applying planning tools to achieve desired development within a regional framework of sustainable communities and healthy landscapes.

Island Press (2007); read more at the resource link below.

Resource: http://www.orton.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageId=493&parentID=489&nodeID=1

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