Rural design is a way of thinking that currently does not
exist in any design or planning curriculum. Rural Design: A New Discipline, explains and demonstrates rural
design—what it is and what it can do for rural communities to resolve rural
land use issues. Rural design is a way to bring design, in all its aspects
from aesthetics to community-based planning methods, to solve complex rural
land use problems. The professions of architecture, landscape architecture,
planning, and urban design have generally ignored rural
America
and the dramatic changes
taking place there. These changes are due to economic, energy, agricultural,
demographic, and environmental issues that are affecting rural quality of
life. Managing these changes requires a new way of thinking about rural problems.
Rural Design is
also an argument for rural design to become a stand-alone academic
discipline, as is urban design. There are no existing academic rural design
programs that can help train professionals to assist rural communities in
managing change. The problem-solving process of rural design is a new way to help
rural citizens identify important values, discover the assets of their
community and landscape, and see how they can enhance their quality of life.
The book will be the first
on rural design in the English language, and outlines Dewey Thorbeck’s
professional and academic background with rural architecture and why he became
concerned about rural America’s
future. This concern motivated Thorbeck to write the book and introduce rural
design as a new discipline. It is oriented towards academics, students, and
design professionals, but also contains useful information for all people
involved with rural communities, agriculture, small towns, and rural regions.
The book establishes the philosophical base for rural design
and discusses the rural landscape and its character. It contains a chapter
explaining techniques and methodologies used in the practice of rural design.
Thorbeck also uses case studies of Center for Rural Design projects to demonstrate
rural design in action. The case studies will inform readers, scholars, and
rural communities about the value of rural design and how it can be practiced,
and it provides strategies for employing it. Finally, the book discusses the
architecture of agriculture and working buildings in the rural landscape as
an integral aspect of rural design.
After obtaining his B. Arch. from the University of Minnesota and M. Arch. from Yale University, Thorbeck won a Rome Prize Fellowship to the American Academy in Rome. He is a registered architect, and his award-winning architectural firm, Thorbeck Architects Ltd., is involved in both regional and national projects and has been published internationally. He was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and is a past president of AIA Minnesota. After teaching design in the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (now the College of Design) at the University of Minnesota for a number of years, Dewey founded the Center for Rural Design and serves as its director.
Table of Contents with Description
