Why Common Groundwork?
There is no greater land-use challenge for modern communities than sprawl — the migration from urban centers to suburbs and rural areas that leaves behind hollow inner cities while damaging farmlands and open spaces. This book explores how farmland and open-space preservation can safeguard the economic viability of major cities, agricultural industries and future food sources, as well as our natural and cultural assets. With a focus on sustainability and smart growth, Common Groundwork outlines how to make land-use choices that are environmentally, socially, and economically viable over the long term — creating livable and sustainable communities for the future.

What Is Common Groundwork?
It is a guide for achieving those goals. With its practical land protection tools, informed citizens can plan and implement community regulations and programs that respect the land-use values of their jurisdictions.

Common Groundwork Addresses:

• The Problem — Sprawl versus farmland and open space preservation, and the threat to rural and urban sustainability
• The Role of Planning — Setting community goals
• The Legal Structure — Regulating and directing land use
• The Management — Over 40 publicly & privately initiated land management tools
• The Resources — Funding sources, key agencies & organizations, and glossary

Who Needs Common Groundwork?
The stakeholders in every community — all of us. Planning, managing, and enforcing sustainable land-use strategies requires the involvement of citizens, appointed and elected public officials, representatives of commerce and industry, residential developers, landowners, farmers, regional and local planning and zoning board members, utility providers, realtors — anyone with a stake in how our communities will look and function in the future.

394 pages. Printed on recycled paper with soy-based inks.
Cost: $28.50 plus 7% sales tax for Ohio residents ($2.00) and $3.00 shipping/handling = $33.50
For tax-exempt organizations = $31.50
Bulk purchase discounts available

"I know of no
other source that
makes such material
available in so
accessible a way."

— Lawrence W. Libby, Professor,
and C. William Swank,
Chair in Rural-Urban Policy,
Department of Agricultural Economics
The Ohio State University

© 2004 Mary Chadbourne

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