Neighbors and Neighborhoods Elements of Successful Community Design

By Sidney Brower

How does the design of a neighborhood affect the people who live there? In this thoughtful, engaging book, Sidney Brower explains how a neighborhood's design lays the groundwork for the social relationships that make it a community. Blending social science with personal interviews, Brower shares the lessons of planned communities from historic Riverside, Illinois, to archetypal Levittown, New York, and Disney's Celebration, Florida.

Through these inspirational stories, readers will discover the characteristics of neighborhoods that promote the attitudes and behaviors of a healthy community. Neighbors and Neighborhoods is an eye-opener for everyone who's wondered what makes their local neighborhoods tick. It demystifies the way planners, architects, developers, organizers, and citizens come together in crafting a community's physical elements, policies, programs, and processes. Readers will come away with a new understanding of their roles in creating the communities they want.