The Essential Ian McHarg brings together a series of short essays that reveal the full range of Ian McHarg’s thoughts on design and nature. Adapted from the comprehensive book of his work, To Heal the Earth, these carefully selected essays provide an ideal reader for undergraduate and graduate students in planning and landscape architecture.
"McHarg's words, his actions, and his works remain memorable and timely. His tersely expressed principles of working in collaborative partnerships of scientists, designers, and planners are as important today as when they were first published. Given the growing oil and energy issues, likely changes in transportation and food production, and resource wars relative to water, designing with nature, as a general truth applied to the healthy fit of people and their landscapes, is all the more important today. The Essential Ian McHarg and its 'Bibliography' will be all the more valuable to landscape architects and land planners in the coming decade."—Landscape Architecture Magazine
"Ian McHarg built bridges between nature and culture, planning and design, science and policy, and inspired a network of professions in the ecological use of land. A new generation of planners and designers seeking inspiration for a more sustainable future will find it in The Essential Ian McHarg, and pass his legacy to future generations."—Paul Wack, AICP, Professor of City and Regional Planning, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
"...provides a timely reminder of where we have been, what remains undone, and how we could go about doing better."—Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Ethics