Toward Sustainable Communities: Transition and Transformations in Environmental Policy

Abstract

Review: Toward Sustainable Communities: Transition and Transformations in Environmental Policy By Daniel A. Mazmanian and Michael E. Kraft (Eds.) Reviewed by Michele Calloway Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois, USA Daniel A. Mazmanian & Michael E. Kraft (Eds.). Toward Sustainable Communities: Transition and Transformations in Environmental Policy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999. 323 pp. ISBN: 0-26223206-5 (paper). US$25.00 Environmental policy in the United States has evolved greatly over the last thirty years. Mazmanian and Kraft have compiled six case studies highlighting these transitions. The editors are also contributors to this book, which is part of the American and Comparative Policy series. Daniel A. Mazmaian is Dean and Professor in the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan, and Michael E. Kraft is Professor of Political Science and of Public and Environmental Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. The overarching theme of Toward Sustainable Communities involves the editors' thesis that the environmental movement has been in a process of evolution over the last three decades. This evolutionary process is divided into three epochs. The first epoch is the age of federal regulation, which is followed by flexibility and incentives for business, and lastly the movement toward sustainability. These epochs are illustrated by a collection of six case studies written by academics and professionals in environmental policy. Mazmanian and Kraft break up the book into three main sections followed by a summary. Section one describes the three epochs of the environmental movement and gives an overview of sustainable communities. Section two contains three case studies that focus on traditional environmental concerns such as clean air, clean water, and the preservation of open spaces, and serve to illustrate the beginnings of the transition process from the regulation-heavy first epoch to the incentive-based second epoch. Section three contains three case studies that highlight the cooperation among various agencies, communities and regions that is necessary in building sustainable communities. The concluding section gives an overview of the previous three sections and brings everything together by summarizing the six case studies as they relate to the environmental epoch theory and the future of sustainability. Toward Sustainable Communities is a useful analysis of the environmental