Overview

Every movement has its bellweathers, the ideas that lead the way and rally its adherents towards a set of shared values and visions. Resettling America was one such beacon – a publication for its time and ahead of its time. Those of us doing the work of sustainability and the transformation of communities feel grateful for Gary’s early and prescient contribution that has shaped the thinking of so many around the US and beyond. Essential reading for all green warriors! Jason F. McLennan, Chief Sustainability Officer – Perkins & Will. Founder, Living Building Challenge. Originally published in 1981 and now reissued with a new Preface by Gary J. Coates, Resettling America was one of the first comprehensive, transdisciplinary books on the crisis of sustainability and the implications of that crisis for the re-design of buildings, towns, cities and regions. Through essays by Coates, which provide a theory of ecological design, and case studies written by leading authors and activists of the time, the book presents a strategic vision of how it would be possible to create a sustainable and livable society through a process of cooperative community development rooted in a radical re-visioning of nature, self and society. By providing a strategic vision, as well offering practical means for creating a sustainable society worth sustaining, Resettling America remains more relevant and inspiring than ever to those who face the ecology of crises that now surround us in the 21st Century.

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9781032544892

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Reviews

'I read Resettling America as an architecture student: it changed my mind. I read it again as a young architect: it changed my professional path. I keep reading my torn and tattered copy: it continues to inspire. This visionary and practical book was decades ahead of its time and it is needed now more than ever. It is one of the few books yet published on regenerative and sustainable design that will continue to guide us in the decades ahead.' Mark DeKay, AIA, Professor of Architecture, University of Tennessee and author of Integral Sustainable Design: Transformative Perspectives. 'Resettling America was a harbinger of issues and a revisioning of America based on alternative energy, appropriate technology, ecological design, and the creation of more self-reliant cities integrated within bioregional food systems. The focus on interdependence and community-scale planning provided a nexus of holistic sustainable design and an optimistic vision of the future. This forward-thinking book is ever more relevant today addressing, as it does, responses to critical issues including climate change, planetary carrying capacity, community building, social equity and diminishing natural resources.' Phillip James Tabb, Professor Emeritus Texas A&M University, author of Biophilic Urbanism: Designing Resilient Communities for the Future and The Greening of Architecture: A Critical History and Survey of Contemporary Sustainable Architecture and Urban Design. 'When Resettling America was first published in 1981, the prospect of rapid climate change was a small cloud on the horizon. Now it is a 5-alarm global storm. In those decades of evasion, the message of Resettling has grown more prescient and more urgent along with Gary Coates' idea of resettling America as a design challenge that inspires our creativity, energy, and patriotism. The prospect of climate chaos is an everything issue and nothing short of systemic solutions will do. This is a practical blueprint and must reading.' David W. Orr, Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies, Emeritus, Oberlin College. '[This] was one of the first books to detail the earth's devolving natural and human environments. Its chapters offered hopeful, real-world examples of sustainable communities grounded in shared responsibilities, ecological sensibility, technologies appropriate to place, and life-enhancing environmental design. The conceptual and practical bounty of the book's ideas and projects remains hugely relevant today as we face escalating global problems like climate change, environmental degradation, resource depletion, and failing human communities. The book continues to be a clarion call for personal, societal, and ecological change. Coates offers a farsighted vision for resettling America and the wider world.' Dr. David Seamon, Professor, Kansas State University, author of Life Takes Place: Phenomenology, Lifeworlds, and Place Making and Phenomenological Perspectives on Place, Lifeworlds, and Lived Emplacement. 'Gary Coates' Resettling America is an enduring contribution to sustainable design and planning, maintaining its relevance today just as it did upon its original publication. Coates' seminal work offers a compelling and future-oriented perspective on how we can construct resilient communities through a shared sense of responsibility, ecological awareness, and environmentally sound technologies. His visionary ideas and instructive case studies are nothing short of groundbreaking now as they were forty years ago, serving as a blueprint for addressing the existential challenges facing humanity. This book is essential reading for anyone who is concerned about the unsettling prospects of our planet's future and who is moved to help create a regenerative and livable human ecology.' Mahesh Daas, DPACSA, President and ACSA Distinguished Professor of Architecture, Boston Architectural College.

I read Resettling America as an architecture student: it changed my mind. I read it again as a young architect: it changed my professional path. I keep reading my torn and tattered copy: it continues to inspire. This visionary and practical book was decades ahead of its time and it is needed now more than ever. It is one of the few books yet published on regenerative and sustainable design that will continue to guide us in the decades ahead. Mark DeKay, AIA, Professor of Architecture, University of Tennessee and author of Integral Sustainable Design: Transformative Perspectives. Resettling America was a harbinger of issues and a revisioning of America based on alternative energy, appropriate technology, ecological design, and the creation of more self-reliant cities integrated within bioregional food systems. The focus on interdependence and community-scale planning provided a nexus of holistic sustainable design and an optimistic vision of the future. This forward-thinking book is ever more relevant today addressing, as it does, responses to critical issues including climate change, planetary carrying capacity, community building, social equity and diminishing natural resources. Phillip James Tabb, Professor Emeritus Texas A&M University, author of Biophilic Urbanism: Designing Resilient Communities for the Future and The Greening of Architecture: A Critical History and Survey of Contemporary Sustainable Architecture and Urban Design. When Resettling America was first published in 1981, the prospect of rapid climate change was a small cloud on the horizon. Now it is a 5-alarm global storm. In those decades of evasion, the message of Resettling has grown more prescient and more urgent along with Gary Coates' idea of resettling America as a design challenge that inspires our creativity, energy, and patriotism. The prospect of climate chaos is an everything issue and nothing short of systemic solutions will do. This is a practical blueprint and must reading. David W. Orr, Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies, emeritus, Oberlin College. [This] was one of the first books to detail the earth's devolving natural and human environments. Its chapters offered hopeful, real-world examples of sustainable communities grounded in shared responsibilities, ecological sensibility, technologies appropriate to place, and life-enhancing environmental design. The conceptual and practical bounty of the book's ideas and projects remains hugely relevant today as we face escalating global problems like climate change, environmental degradation, resource depletion, and failing human communities. The book continues to be a clarion call for personal, societal, and ecological change. Coates offers a farsighted vision for resettling America and the wider world. Dr. David Seamon, Professor, Kansas State University, author of Life Takes Place: Phenomenology, Lifeworlds, and Place Making and Phenomenological Perspectives on Place, Lifeworlds, and Lived Emplacement.

Author Information

"Professor of Architecture emeritus Gary J. Coates has long been recognized nationally and internationally as a leading voice in the movement to create socially, technologically and ecologically sustainable buildings, towns, cities and bioregions. Coates’ contributions have been recognized with numerous awards. At Kansas State University, where he taught for 45 years, Coates was selected as the inaugural Victor L. Regnier Distinguished Faculty Chair. He has received national awards from the American Institute of Architecture (AIA) and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) for his innovative courses on sustainable and regenerative design. Coates was chosen as an ACSA Distinguished Professor of Architecture for a lifetime of ""sustained creative achievement"" through teaching, research, scholarship and service. Professionally, Coates has consulted on town planning and architectural design projects, and collaborated with colleagues to help create a number of international professional organizations including: the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA); the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU); the Society of Building Science Educators (SBSE) and; the Architecture, Culture and Spirituality Forum (ACSF)."

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