Summary

"We must continue to respond to the desire of Americans to foster and protect the means of survival. The economy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the environment. That applies equally in all places. We can't afford to pay the rent by selling the store.

"The application of simple analytical methods and an interdisciplinary approach can yield the means of identifying for every state and region the range of resource priorities and the most immediate threats to those resources. In the vast reaches of our mountains, forests, plains, deserts, wetlands, lakes, and waterways; in constricted ranges of endangered habitats; and in the tiny crevices in the mud where frogs winter, is the source of our country's future life."--From the Foreword by Gaylord Nelson Former Governor and U.S. Senator from Wisconsin Founder of Earth Day

"Once we recognize where all the known resources in a region are, we can see the patterns in which they occur. These patterns can guide how and where future growth can be placed to avoid destroying the essential resources that sustain life."--From the author's Introduction

The power and influence of Philip H. Lewis's ideas on landscape planning and design are well known among landscape architects, students, environmentalists, government officials, and the general public. Lewis has spent more than four decades developing and refining his Regional Design Process--a method that guides development toward less fragile lands and preserves cores of natural resources within developed areas. He has proven this system of sustainable design through projects in Wisconsin, the Upper Mississippi Valley, the Great Lakes basin, Alaska, and elsewhere. Those who have attended his lectures and speeches or read his articles are well aware of his enthusiasm, his clarity, and the broad scope of his vision. In Tomorrow by Design, Lewis offers the first comprehensive, unified presentation of his ideas along with proven methods to ensure their successful implementation on a regional, national, or international scale.

This book answers the ever-more-compelling question, "How can we manage and develop our land in a way that encourages economic growth without destroying life-giving resources for future generations?" Lewis begins by examining the need for an overview that accounts for all of a region's resources and views those resources in the context of both environmental concerns and human needs. Problems such as pollution, population growth, and decreasing biodiversity are viewed in the context of the ongoing human needs for housing, transportation, energy, food, and economic growth.

This holistic approach leads directly to the concept of sustainability--reliance on resources that can be replenished or restored, development of adequate substitutes for nonrenewable resources, and preservation of resources wherever possible without great detriment to humanity or its surroundings. Lewis provides new ways of looking at national patterns of urbanization and communicating national, regional, and local values and visions. He presents numerous case studies and hundreds of illustrations that demonstrate both the process of regional design and specific techniques that can be applied on a range of scales from neighborhood to national.

This book is must reading for anyone who is concerned about the interaction of society with the natural world. Landscape architects, environmentalists, and students will gain the skills and training they need to construct a holistic approach to developing, protecting, and enhancing resources. Government officials at all levels will find help in developing policy for land use and resource preservation, and all readers will discover a vision of hope and expanding possibilities that links the vigor and dynamism of humanity with the continued well-being of the natural world.

Choice Review

Ten years ago, when this reviewer took Lewis's course at the University of Wisconsin, Lewis was aflame with regional design ideas. Through the Environmental Awareness Center in Madison, his ideas had a reputation then as "visionary," and this started long before this reviewer's arrival in his classroom. In the foreword former Wisconsin Governor Gaylord Nelson describes in the foreword Lewis's visionary lead on a comprehensive inventory of the State's physical and cultural resources in the 1960s. In July 1996, Lewis and his years of progress were the cover story in Landscape Architecture magazine. But prior to Tomorrow by Design, Lewis's visions had not been captured in a single well-illustrated work, written for the public and the student. Four decades of refining a regional design process that has become so well known to planners, landscape architects, and government officials through projects in Illinois, Wisconsin, Florida, and elsewhere are now summarized in his book. The beauty of Tomorrow by Design for students and teachers is that it speaks to the need for broadscale approaches to design, but does so by illustrating practical approaches that can be implemented with resources on hand. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals. J. Silbernagel Washington State University