Recently re-issued in a 25th-anniversary edition, this book has obviously retained its position. Why? Because it is *the* place to begin an environmental impact statement. It should be on the bookshelf, and engraved in the heart and mind, of anyone connected with, or concerned about, planning for the future.
McHarg takes the simple idea of overlay maps--which may contain any type of information--and builds up a procedure for making the difficult trade-offs involved in resolving competing ideas about land use.
No local community should be without a set of McHarg overlays. Any citizen group concerned about the actions of a 'developer' should be able to prepare its own overlay for the town's McHarg base map, showing its assessement of areas that need protection and areas that are suitable for the proposed use. This may not make everyone happy, but it at least guarantees that the issues and specific sites are understood by all, and that specific concerns have been fairly addressed.
Buy this book for your town planner.