Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream

doesn't waste time sneering at horrible, dehumanized exurban sprawl but takes an idealistic look at how suburbia can be reclaimed and saved or at least how new developments can avoid the usual drab horrors. a very hopeful book that deserves a larger readership than new urbanists.

Anti-sprawl polemic, with plenty of pictures and statistics to make the case that building bigger houses further out is killing us—and this was well before the mortgage crisis! The authors tout New Urbanism instead, which relies on control-freak design to mix uses and make sure neighborhoods “feel” like neighborhoods. Good popular writing about designing the built environment, and persuasive pictures of suburban deadness versus urban/new urban liveliness; though the authors’ proposals are at least as manipulative as Coca-Cola ads, they’re manipulating you for a good purpose.non

Terrific analysis of how too much of the visual landscape of the United States turned into highway hell, of what the alternative might be, and of how these might be achieved. Perceptive, witty, and mind-bending.

Subruban Nation provides a good overview of the condition of the American landscape, which has become, especially over the last sixty years, a stretch of parking lots, strip malls, and segregated-use neighborhoods. The authors offer suggestions and examples for a new neighborhood model, based on mixed-use living and pedestrian-friendly outdoor space.

A very good book, required reading for anyone in planning, or interested in their community's future.

Excellent book, easy to read and understand. This is a very important book for everyone who lives in North America. Enlightening and even entertaining.

It's necessary but I don't have to love it, right?