Randall Arendt

About Randall Arendt Randall Arendt is a landscape planner, site designer, author, lecturer, and an advocate of "conservation planning". He received his B.A. degree from Wesleyan University (magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa) and his M.Phil. degree in Urban Design and Regional Planning from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, where he was a St. Andrew's Scholar. He is Senior Conservation Advisor at the Natural Lands Trust in Media, Pennsylvania, and is the former Director of Planning and Research at the Center for Rural Massachusetts, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he also served as an Adjunct Professor. In 2003 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Town Planning Institute in London. In 2004 he was named an Honorary Member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and in 2005 he received the American Institute of Architects' Award for Collaborative Achievement. In 2008 he received an Honorary Degree in Landscape Planning and Design from the Conway School of Landscape Design, in Conway, Massachusetts. Author Mr. Arendt is the author of more than 20 publications. After co‐authoring the award‐winning Dealing with Change in the Connecticut River Valley: A Design Manual for Conservation and Development, he produced a 450‐page sequel entitled Rural by Design: Maintaining Small Town Character, in 1994, which is listed among 39 volumes recommended by the American Planning Association for "the essential planning library". His third major work Conservation Design for Subdivisions: A Practical Guide to Creating Open Space Networks (1996) was followed by a companion volume three years later, Growing Greener: Putting Conservation into Local Plans and Ordinances. Also in 1999 his fifth book, Crossroads, Hamlet, Village, Town: Design Characteristics of Traditional Neighborhoods, Old and New. Envisioning Better Communities: Seeing More Options, Making Wiser Choices, was published by the APA and the Urban Land Institute in April 2010. Lecturer Mr. Arendt is the country's most sought‐after speaker on the topic of creative development design as a conservation tool. He has presented slide lectures in 47 states and five Canadian provinces. In recent years he has been featured as a key speaker at national conferences sponsored by the American Planning Association, the Urban Land Institute, the American Farmland Trust, the American Society of Landscape Architects, the National Association of Home Builders, the Land Trust Alliance, the US EPA, and the Canadian institute of Planners. His work has been featured in leading periodicals including the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, the Wall Street Journal, Landscape Architect, Urban Land, the Amicus Journal, the Smithsonian, and the New Yorker. Site Designer and "Twice Green" Results Mr. Arendt has designed "conservation subdivisions" for a wide variety of clients in 21 states and several Canadian provinces. His designs are "twice green" because they succeed both environmentally and economically. Achieved in a “density‐neutral” manner, they respect landowner equity and allow developers to build at the legal density, but require significant conservation through more compact layouts. Hamburg Township, Livingston County, Michigan, which has implemented conservation design over the past decade, has protected nearly 2,000 acres with this approach, representing a land value of at least $40 million. Hanover County VA has preserved more than 5000 acres using these ordinances during a similar period. In Calvert County, Maryland, the total is nearly 7,800 acres, and in San Luis Obispo County, California it is over 9,000. Added Value: In Pleasant View, Tennessee, his re‐design saved one developer approximately $212,000 in street construction costs, while at the same time introducing significantly more quality open space into the layout. By respecting natural terrain and designing around existing site features on an 80‐lot development in Nacogdoches, Texas, he recently cut grading costs by 83%, or one quarter‐million dollars (from $300,000 to $50,000). Another design is credited by a Carmel Indiana developer as having added $20,000 to $25,000 of value to each of his 40 lots (an added value of $800,000 to $1m), while still providing for full development density.