Architecture and heritage

This best-selling illustrated booklet demonstrates how the quality of development in rural areas can be improved. It presents a cogent analysis of the failures in the planning and development process, which have contributed to declining standards in the design of new housing. The last chapter identifies how this decline can be arrested and describes the action some people are already taking to improve the quality of rural development.

This report highlights how almost every community has something from the past worth conserving which can create a distinctive identity and a sense of place. Lamp posts, traditional signs, distinctive buildings, ancient field systems, orchards – the range of features and landscapes that give character to local environments is enormous. The case is made for valuing and engaging local communities in the planning decisions which affect their local environment, and the need for recognition and protection of local heritage as part of the planning system.