""The call for change is everywhere, yet how to define it and how to achieve it remain vague. The Architecture of Change: Building a Better World is a unique book that documents how ordinary people have the power to transform their environments. It is a celebration of human diversity and a call for increased attention to our communities. This inspiring book explores the issues of equity, alternative forms of living, new concepts of urbanism, and the power of social networks."
Governor Bill Richardson, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Congressman, Secretary of Energy, Governor of New Mexico, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee"

An invaluable inspiration and source book for independent action on behalf of those forgotten by the bureaucracies. From sidewalk living rooms to restoration of lost histories, to schools, soup kitchens, murals, and especially a vast array of possibilities for affordable housing, the result is a blueprint for a more caring society. Each chapter reinforces the power of imagination, self-determination, and persistence familiar to those of us who were devoted readers of DESIGNER/builder. So read it, get fired up, and get busy.
Lucy Lippard, writer, activist and curator in the fields of feminism, art, politics, and place, and author of many books including The Lure of the Local: Senses of Place in a Multicentered Society

This book captures the essence of the creative American spirit at work in our too often underserved communities. It will be an inspiring guide to all generations of designers and artists--students, faculty, and practitioners--looking for a purpose in their careers. In these times of depressing recession, this uplifting book not only makes me feel proud to be an architect, but also to be an American. There is hope in this country--and a lot of homemade beauty!
Michael Pyatok, FAIA, winner of many awards including the 2013 AIA Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture in recognition of his work in affordable housing, which includes more than 35,000 units for low-income communities

This new book, selected from DESIGNER/builder's brief life of fifteen years, cut off by Kingsley Hammett's abrupt death in 2008, will make us sad to have lost one of America's great 'little magazines.' But the book will also make us happy. It is full of engaging and exciting material. Kingsley and Jerilou Hammett brought together a great abundance of environmental history just as it was being made. This book demonstrates that, despite all the powerful forces bent on taking our world away from us, people don't let them. We have the capacity, the imagination, and the energy to fight back and make the world our own.
Marshall Berman, Distinguished Professor, City College/City University of New York, and author of All That Is Solid Melts into Air: The Experience of Modernity and many other books and articles on politics and culture