In 1986 the Center for Rural Massachusetts was created, and with it this project was begun. Funded by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management, the goal was to identify the critical character and qualities of Connecticut River Valley communities and identify new ways in which development could take place, but reduce its impact on the social, cultural, environmental and agricultural resources of the Valley.

Volume 1 was published as the executive summary of the project, detailing the need for such an effort at a time when concern for rampant development was beginning to form into the sustainable development ideals of the 1990's.