Review by Choice Review
This is an examination of the history of the Montgomery County, Maryland, planning process, in cooperation with the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. Montgomery County is unique, perhaps, in having a long-term process for determining its future, yet its history is replete with conflicts over the balance between large investments, small and larger homes, and the land reserved for agricultural uses. The regimes that determined these over the past century are the informal arrangements by which private bodies and public agencies carried out the governing decisions for the county. Four regimes presided during this time: that overseen by E. Brooke Lee from 1916 until the 1950s; the builders and bar regime that dominated until about 1970; the progressive regime that followed it, which sought to translate its symbols into policy; and the most recent pure political regime, which lacked a single vision for integrating the planners' views with the many participants. The county has done quite well in its many planning ventures, the author concludes. The survey gives little attention to other counties' planning efforts and is limited to Montgomery County alone. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals. --William C. Johnson, independent scholar
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review