is democratic government, intoned by John Ralston Saul (1997) as ‘the most pow-
erful force possessed by the individual, her own government’ – a neatly balanced
quip which nests comfortably with the ‘strategic weft’ from Jane Jacobs’s (1961)
‘communities working with their social capital’. And it is on the basis of these and
other exemplars, principally from North America, that this project sets out to
reason for improvements to the urban habitat – the dominant way of life for Anglo
New World citizens.
In terms of structure I have worked from the ‘whole’ (global ecological-economic
problematics, and socio-environmental issues), to the ‘part’ (regions, cities, towns,
suburbs). At its core the book addresses the use of power: will-power, household
power, community power, regional power, and the political power of the state.
What is targeted for explication is how socio-environmental improvements can be
merged with consumer growth for the Anglo New World urban context where,
confronted with a choice between ‘sustainability’ and ‘consumerism’ those soci-
eties have reacted, as Oscar Wilde would have advised, by choosing both! Engag-
ing twentieth-century environmental science, the need is apparent to fashion a
value-based methodology for bundling development policies together with con-
servation practice; to now walk the talk within openly democratic administrations
which provide property security, fiscal stability, and contractual certainty.
The title for this book can be understood keyword by keyword by referring
separately to ‘sustainable’, ‘urban’ and ‘planning’ in the Glossary: applying the
contemporary take on ‘sustainability’ as a generalism in popular non-dictionary
use. As a phrase Sustainable Urban Planningconnotes process, something practised
and delivered. The subtitle ‘Tipping the Balance’ needs no elaboration.
The lesser Principles block (chapters 1 and 2) addresses classical sources,
attends to lessons from experience, and observes longer-cycle trends from what
was to what is; and is definitional. The major Practice block leads with the elab-
oration of a ‘Charter’ (chapter 3), then turns to ‘Growth Pattern Management’
(chapter 4), and then attends to the specifics of ‘Urban Growth Management’
(chapter 5).
My through-line has been, and remains, one of getting sustainable-in-intent
conservationconnected to profitable-in-intent development.
Introduction 3