Resources

Here are several resources we’ve found helpful as we’ve learned more about what good community and economic development look like in cities and towns access the United States and the world. We’re constantly adding to this list as we find new resources, so check back every once in a while!

Online

Books

  • Abrams, John. The Company We Keep: Reinventing Small Business for People, Community, and Place.
  • Alexander, Christopher. A Pattern Language.
  • Anielski, Mark. The Economics of Happiness: Building Genuine Wealth.
  • Bachelard, Gaston. The Poetics of Space.
  • Berry, Wendell. Home Economics.
  • Berry, Wendell. Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community.
  • Berry, Wendell. The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture.
  • Block, Peter. Community: The Structure of Belonging.
  • Block, Peter, and John McKnight. The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods.
  • Borrup, Tom. The Creative Community Builder’s Handbook: How to Transform Communities Using Local Assets, Art, and Culture.
  • Brueggemann, Walter. The Land: Place as Gift, Promise, and Challenge in Biblical Faith.
  • Burnham, Daniel H., and Edward H. Bennett. Plan of Chicago.
  • Casey, Edward S. Getting Back Into Place: Toward a Renewed Understanding of the Place-World.
  • Cortses, Amy. Locavesting: The Revolution in Local Investing and How to Profit From It.
  • de Botton, Alain. The Architecture of Happiness.
  • Defilippis, James, and Susan Saegert, eds. The Community Development Reader.
  • Dover, Victor, and John Massengale. Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns.
  • Duany, Andres, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck. Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream.
  • Duany, Andres, Jeff Speck, and Mike Lydon. The Smart Growth Manual.
  • Estill, Lyle. Small is Possible: Life in a Local Economy.
  • Ezell, Kyl. Designing Local: Revealing Our Truest Communities.
  • Farrington, Frank. Community Development.
  • Foley, Elizabeth Phillps, Colleen Layton, and Daniel Gilmartin. The Economics of Place: The Art of Building Great Communities.
  • Gallagher, Winifred. The Power of Place: How Our Surroundings Shape Our Thoughts, Emotions, and Actions.
  • Gehl, Jan. Cities for People.
  • Gehl, Jan. Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space.
  • Gehl, Jan, and Birgitte Svarre. How to Study Public Life.
  • Hammel, Luary, and Gun Denhart. Growing Local Value: How to Build Business Partnerships that Strengthen Your Community.
  • Hemenway, Toby. The Permaculture City: Regenerative Design for Urban, Suburban, and Town Resilience.
  • Hewitt, Ben. The Town That Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food.
  • Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities.
  • Jacobs, Jane. The Economy of Cities.
  • Jacobsen, Eric O. Sidwalks in the Kingdom: New Urbanism and the Christian Faith.
  • Jacobsen, Eric O. The Space Between: A Christian Engagement with the Built Environment.
  • Kamin, Blair. Why Architecture Matters: Lessons from Chicago.
  • Kay, Jane Holtz. Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America and How We Can Take It Back.
  • Kemmis, Daniel. Community and the Politics of Place.
  • Kemmis, Daniel. The Good City and the Good Life: Renewing the Sense of Community.
  • Kotkin, Joel. The City: A Global History.
  • Kunstler, James Howard. The City in Mind: Notes on the Urban Condition.
  • Kunstler, James Howard. The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America’s Man-Made Landscape.
  • Kunstler, James Howard. Home From Nowhere: Remaking Our Everyday World for the 21st Century.
  • Layton, Colleen, Tawny Pruitt, and Kim Cekola, eds. The Economics of Place: The Value of Building Communities Around People.
  • Lydon, Mike, and Anthony Garcia. Tactical Urbanism: Short-term Action for Long-term Change.
  • Mitchell, Stacy. Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America’s Independent Businesses.
  • Mitchell, Stacy. The Home Town Advantage.
  • Montgomery, Charles. Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design.
  • National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO). Urban Bikeway Design Guide.
  • NACTO. Urban Street Design Guide.
  • Owen, David. Green Metropolis.
  • Pahl, Jon. Shopping Malls and Other Sacred Spaces: Putting God in Place.
  • Pallasmaa, Juhani. The Embodied Image: Imagination and Imagery in Architecture.
  • Pallasmaa, Juhani. The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses.
  • Pallasmaa, Juhani. The Thinking Hand: Existential and Embodied Wisdom in Architecture.
  • Rasmussen, Steen Eiler. Experiencing Architecture.
  • Rybczynski, Witold. City Life.
  • Rybczynski, Witold. How Architecture Works: A Humanist’s Toolkit.
  • Rybczynski, Witold. Looking Around: A Journey Through Architecture.
  • Rypkema, Donovan D. The Economics of Historic Preservation.
  • Sanders, Scott Russell. Staying Put: Making a Home in a Restless World.
  • Schumacher, E.F. Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered.
  • Shuman, Michael. Going Local: Creating Self-Reliant Communities in a Global Age.
  • Shuman, Michael. Local Dollars, Local Sense.
  • Shuman, Michael. The Small-Mart Revolution.
  • Sitte, Camillo. The Art of Building Cities.
  • Smith, Carl. The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City.
  • Speck, Jeff. Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time.
  • Stipe, Robert ed. A Richer Heritage: Historic Preservation in the Twenty-First Century.
  • Sucher, David. City Comforts: How to Build an Urban Village.
  • Tyler, Norman, and Robert M. Ward. Planning and Community Development: A Guide for the 21st Century.
  • Tyler, Norman, Ted Ligibel, and Ilene Tyler. Historic Preservation: An Introduction to Its History, Principles and Practice.
  • Walljasper, Jay. The Great Neighborhood Book: A Do-it-Yourself Guide to Placemaking.