"Written as a professional reference book and a case textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in a variety of disciplines, Sustainable Communities contains detailed case studies of communities in U.S.A., Europe, and Asia that have become sustainable. In most cases, these communities are either off the central power grid or will be by 2010, and are examples of what regions, cities, towns, and communities - such as colleges, businesses and shopping malls - can do to become sustainable." "The book provides a vast amount of materials and data including design, and the legal, economic, and technologic aspects of how environments become sustainable. It provides the general public with a multi-disciplinary perspective and understanding of sustainable development from actual cases, along with some well-established resources and tools"--BOOK JACKET.