As Hugh Petter, whose remarkable body of work is the subject of Living Tradition, writes, “before cheap fossil fuels, vernacular buildings and old towns were intrinsically sustainable because they could not have the luxury of being otherwise. There is much to learn from the past to help inform the future.”

The profound sustainability of traditional place-making might almost be the theme of Clive Aslet’s book. It is the sustainability which seeks to create buildings which can last and places in which you can walk to the shops in the place of more heavily-marketed green bling.

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