I've just bought (prompted by this) a copy of this book which, according to the blurb:
"reveals how the process of providing local public goods through the dynamism of freely competitive, market based entrepeneurship is unmatched in renewing communities and strengthening the bonds of civil society"
Well... perhaps! Overall the book isn't quite what I expected - more of a historical/political/philosophical review than a practical manual. Admittedly I've only scanned through it very rapidly so far, but looking especially at part 3 - The voluntary city and community - it seems that its prescriptions are based too much on the American experience - US zoning laws are for example much more prescriptive than anything in the UK or Ireland and probably the rest of Europe too. Despite all the libertarian shouting to the contrary I have always had the impression that the US is pretty bureaucratic and rigid (when it isn't subject to financial manipulations - if you don't believe me on that a google on "Pork US politics" for example brings up this).
The covenants enforced by Neighbourhood associations look pretty terrifying too and not what I had expected in the supposedly libertarian USA. I always thought the building committees in sitcoms like Frasier were comic invention!
Even so it looks a stimulating book and I'm looking forward to reading it more systematically.
Note: my original link for this book pointed in error to the book about Samuel Mockbee in my Making Places list - well worth reading but not what I had in mind. The link has been corrected.
