In a cooperative project between the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Center for Rural Massachusetts, the authors addressed growth management and conservation strategies for the Connecticut River Valley. Nineteen towns and cities along the Connecticut River in Massachusetts were involved in the project, to develop practical planning and design standards to balance community preservation and future development. This critically acclaimed manual used striking perspective drawings, plans and photos to explain how communities could use creative planning guidelines to accommodate growth while preserving rural landscapes.

Originally published in January 1988, it was published by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the Environmental Law Foundation in June of 1988 and went through 5 printings between 1988 and 1993. It was revised and expanded and published by the American Planning Association as Rural by Design in 1994.