The Community
Planning Handbook
How people can shape their cities, town and villages in any part of the world.

The first comprehensive worldwide how-to-do-it published on public involvement in planning and design. It features an accessible style, best practice information on effective methods, international scope and relevance and full colour throughout. A vital reference for practitioners, policy makers and students throughout the world.

All over the world people have started organising special collaborative events to improve their surroundings. For a few intensive days, everybody concerned gets an opportunity to have their say and get involved; residents, businesses, professionals, politicians. It's effective and it's fun. This book - the first on the subject - tells you how to do it

Community architecture has emerged as a powerful force for change in the way people all over the world are creating their own homes, neighbourhoods and cities. This book - the first on the subject - explains how and why Community Architecture works and reveals the full story of the quiet revolution which provides hope for communities everywhere.

Squatters are usually portrayed as worthless scroungers hell-bent on disrupting society. Here is the inside story of the hundreds of thousands of people who have squatted in Britain since the war. The country is riddled with empty houses and there are thousands of homeless people. When squatters logically put the two together the result can be electrifying, amazing and occasionally disastrous.

For seventeen years, Tolmers Square in north London was the focus of a conflict involving tenant's groups, community associations, students, squatters, intellectuals, political parties at both national and local level, and property developers. The dramatic story of that conflict is told by Nick Wates, who describes how Tolmers Square became a national symbol of the fight against property speculation and the need for community involvement in planning. The book focuses on one case-study, but the same processes operate in all cities. By tracing the Tolmers case in detail, the book shows clearly the destructive forces which often operate in city redevelopment, and the effectiveness of various forms of campaigning and community action.