For 10,000 people, this book will be a life-changer. It proposes to call together ordinary (and extraordinary) people who find today's cities, towns and suburbs fail to provide for a good life. If you want change, don't complain; do something. This book shows you how to align your interests to create a VillageTown, a town made of villages that holds the authority and the means to fulfil its promise. The VillageTown is car-free with no commuters. Its foundation is a local, self-supporting, sustainable market-economy. The citizen-owned VillageTown retains hundreds of millions of development profits to support the private enterprise that creates its common-wealth. Profits also are invested in social and cultural enrichment. Never boring, with aspects that make so much sense, we wonder why it's not being done elsewhere... such as school classrooms on the village plaza and lifetime elder-housing in a complete community. It is not an intentional community; rather, it's a self-creating one. It offers a framework that supports and enables its citizens to provide for their needs and aspirations. This book is the product of 25 years of research. It looked at timeless, proven patterns of human habitat, and then examined how advances in technology can enable people to take control of their lives by creating their VillageTown. VillageTown: a town of villages, built on the foundation of a sustainable market economy that creates an enriched, vibrant urban culture to support the social pursuits of Conviviality, Citizenship, Artistic, Intellectual & Spiritual Growth. - 10,000 population - 500 acres total made up of - 20 villages with public plazas - Each with its own distinct character - A cosmopolitan town center - A walk-to industrial park - 300-acre outer greenbelt - Socially & culturally enriched - No cars within the village walls - Citizen-owned market economy - Affordable; a complete community - Self-sustaining for 7 generations - For all ages and all stages of life - Self-funded and self-regulating

For the last 50 years, we have been building communities for the wrong reason. "How to Build a VillageTown" proposes to turn real estate development upside down, so that people may regain control of their lives, their communities and their future. Instead of building communities to sell cars, "How to Build a VillageTown" proposes people build communities that provide for their needs and aspirations... places to live that are places they love.The idea is not new. Over 2,000 years ago, Aristotle wrote that when several villages come together so they may become economically self-supporting, the purpose for their continuance is to enable their citizens to enjoy a good life, understood as the social pursuits of conviviality, citizenship, artistic, intellectual and spiritual growth. In almost every place and time, except our own, every aspect of community design, from the central plaza with its meeting places, cafes, taverns and shops, to their support for the artistic, educational and holy places followed these timeless patterns and principles of design. The people who live there help shape its design which is what gives it its character and authenticity.Beginning after World-War II, starting in America and spreading to other parts of the world, we radically redesigned how people live based on a different intent: to perpetually boom national economies. We invented suburbs to sell cars. We reshaped life based on this plan that came to be known as suburban sprawl. The core principle was that of separation. We separated destinations, generations and stages of life. The design principle became that of standardization. If we look at everything that surrounds us in daily life, we notice the extent to which our physical environment has become generic and bland. We redefined citizens as consumers, and in the process lost sight of why we build communities.This radical experiment in suburban sprawl failed to deliver on its promise. We now face a host of new and serious problems our ancestors knew not. For the most part, our response to these problems is either denial or investing substantial energy trying to fix broken and broke systems.In "How to Build a VillageTown," you are invited to take a different approach. Called a VillageTown - a town made of villages - it proposes people come together to form villages, about 500 people in each, with about twenty villages side by side to create the necessary economic and social critical mass of a town of 10,000 people. The optimal size proposes a 150 acre urban core surrounded by a 300 acre greenbelt and a 50 acre industrial park. Within the urban core, all is walkable - no cars within. This rescales everything, permitting a secure, stimulating place for all ages and stages of life. Human-scaled, it more resembles the market-town of yore; only it takes advantage of modern technology, most notably Telepresence that permits one to be in two places at once. It proposes creating its own local economy that enables its citizens to regain control over their own lives and enjoy a Good Life.The purpose of the series of VillageTown books is to put forth a proposal to build a new, timeless form of community to replace suburbs. All profits from book sales go to raise the funds required to build VillageTowns.The author takes no royalties, the publisher charges no fees. To support the idea, to help make it go from a good idea to real built communities, buy books, give them as gifts, leave them in cafes or anywhere else folks gather. This is not a drill. If you like the idea and want to live in a VillageTown, please go to the web site, VillageForum.com and become involved.

For the last 50 years, we have been building communities for the wrong reason. "How to Build a VillageTown" proposes to turn real estate development upside down, so that people may regain control of their lives, their communities and their future. Instead of building communities to sell cars, "How to Build a VillageTown" proposes people build communities that provide for their needs and aspirations... places to live that are places they love. The idea is not new. Over 2,000 years ago, Aristotle wrote that when several villages come together so they may become economically self-supporting, the purpose for their continuance is to enable their citizens to enjoy a good life, understood as the social pursuits of conviviality, citizenship, artistic, intellectual and spiritual growth. In almost every place and time, except our own, every aspect of community design, from the central plaza with its meeting places, cafes, taverns and shops, to their support for the artistic, educational and holy places followed these timeless patterns and principles of design. The people who live there help shape its design which is what gives it its character and authenticity. Beginning after World-War II, starting in America and spreading to other parts of the world, we radically redesigned how people live based on a different intent: to perpetually boom national economies. We invented suburbs to sell cars. We reshaped life based on this plan that came to be known as suburban sprawl. The core principle was that of separation. We separated destinations, generations and stages of life. The design principle became that of standardization. If we look at everything that surrounds us in daily life, we notice the extent to which our physical environment has become generic and bland. We redefined citizens as consumers, and in the process lost sight of why we build communities. This radical experiment in suburban sprawl failed to deliver on its promise. We now face a host of new and serious problems our ancestors knew not. For the most part, our response to these problems is either denial or investing substantial energy trying to fix broken and broke systems. In "How to Build a VillageTown," you are invited to take a different approach. Called a VillageTown - a town made of villages - it proposes people come together to form villages, about 500 people in each, with about twenty villages side by side to create the necessary economic and social critical mass of a town of 10,000 people. The optimal size proposes a 150 acre urban core surrounded by a 300 acre greenbelt and a 50 acre industrial park. Within the urban core, all is walkable - no cars within. This rescales everything, permitting a secure, stimulating place for all ages and stages of life. Human-scaled, it more resembles the market-town of yore; only it takes advantage of modern technology, most notably Telepresence that permits one to be in two places at once. It proposes creating its own local economy that enables its citizens to regain control over their own lives and enjoy a Good Life. The purpose of the series of VillageTown books is to put forth a proposal to build a new, timeless form of community to replace suburbs. All profits from book sales go to raise the funds required to build VillageTowns.The author takes no royalties, the publisher charges no fees. To support the idea, to help make it go from a good idea to real built communities, buy books, give them as gifts, leave them in cafes or anywhere else folks gather. This is not a drill. If you like the idea and want to live in a VillageTown, please go to the web site, VillageForum.com and become involved.

Sometimes the most effective way to talk about a good idea is to write a story. This book tells the story of Ed Rice, a semi-retired senior town planner who spent 50 years planning the suburban developments of the town of Blandville, the place that could be anywhere. When the judge takes away his drivers license, he discovered what an absolute mess he and his peers created in approving what his critics called suburban sprawl. Unable to get around without a car, he sells his split-level rancher in Blandville Heights, and arranges for a driver to take him to a retirement home fours hours away. He has no choice as he resigns himself to an empty future where he will have little to do other than keep himself comfortably busy while he waits for death to take him. As his driver transports him one last time along the wide boulevards of Blandville, Ed explains to his driver the hollowness of what he helped build since the 1950's a place built not to serve its citizens, but to sell more cars. Finally, worn out as they pull onto the freeway, he drifts off to sleep. He awakes when his driver stops for lunch at a VillageTown; a 10,000 population community where everything its citizens need for daily life is within a ten-minute walk. The Visitor's Bureau invites him and his driver to take a tour of a most remarkable place, socially and culturally enriched, with a thriving local economy. It is a town made of 20 villages, side by side, each village different that the next, so it feels more like traveling from one country to another. His hosts explain that a VillageTown provides for what the ancients called The Good Life. When several villages come together so they may be self-supporting or nearly so, the purpose of their continued existence is to provide for the Good Life, understood as the pursuits of conviviality, citizenship, artistic & intellectual growth, and spiritual development and fulfillment. Ed's tour guide, a young exchange student in the VillageTown hosted university year-abroad program escorts him from one village to another, introducing him to its citizens, each of whom tells their story of their life in their village. Most of the stories are real, and some of those who speak to Ed use their own words. Called cameos, these people include former Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall, Corporate Anthropologist Michael Henderson, Biologist Elisabet Sahtouris and Director of Doing Richard Hollingum. Other cameos by Professor John Bremer, and Slovenian Ambassador of Culture Miha Pogacnic are written by the author, but approved by the speakers. The author and many of the cameo speakers are part of a group called the Village Forum, dedicated to turning a good idea into real VillageTowns built around the world. It's an idea worth spreading; it's an idea worth doing. The book has been written for two reasons. 1) To explain the idea in an easy-to-read way that invites people to build their village. 2) To raise funds to build VillageTowns. All profits earned from the book sales goes to building VillageTowns. The author will collect no royalties and the publisher no fees. If, after reading the book, you like the idea, go to www.villageforum.com to learn more. If you think you would you like to live in a VillageTown the forum is where to express interest. Also check out two other books written by Claude Lewenz. How to Build a Village is a 256 page book with over 400 color photographs that provides detailed patterns of what works and why. VillageTowns - the Next Step is a recent book written because projects are now underway in four countries.