Good books…

Regenerative Design for Sustainable Development by John Lyle, Permaculture Designers Manual by Bill Mollison (find a library copy if you can since it costs a lot to buy), Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs is one I reccommend, though it’s not focused on designing for sustainability (It always surprises me how few people have read it, and how they all seem to think that the only point she made was that we should have windows facing the street.)

Check out some of the books we have in the Land8 Bookstore. We have a section on Sustainable Design that has some enticing selections … http://www.land8lounge.com/bookstore

Also, there are a few book reviews in the Blogs section that are worth checking out… http://www.land8lounge.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=book+reviews

Hope this helps!

I’ve had World Changing on my shelf since early last year, and it continues to provide inspiration. It’s a pretty massive tome, that manages to be both informative and actionable.

I just finished reading World Made By Hand and The Long Emergency. My first reaction was definitely cynical and pessimistic, but after stepping back and thinking about it, I have a much better understanding of true sustainability, and a cautious optimism for the future.
I would highly suggest that any professional read The Long Emergency. The complex issues that society faces cannot be solved with cookie cutter “BMPs” or a few large scale solutions, and it is extremely important that designers embrace reality rather than clinging to the status quo of the last 50 years.

Living Systems: Innovative Materials and Technologies for Landscape Architects – (‘materials and technologies’ are more process based systems…very cool. You’ll most likely see some familiar projects described in detail)

The Landscape Urbanism Reader – Charles Waldhiem

any research article you can find by Stewart Pickett (urban ecology)

Advances in Urban Ecology – Marina Alberti

Manufactured Sites: Rethinking the Post-Industrial Landscape – Niall Kirkwood

…to name a few