Suburban Nation
The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dreamby Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck
North Point Press, 256 pp., $30
Americans cite in poll after poll that they prefer small towns to cities, nice neighborhoods more than nice homes — yet featureless, thoughtless, economically unsustainable suburbs continue to consume the landscape. As leaders of a firm that has designed over 200 new neighborhood and revitalization programs, the writers — urban planner-activists — are familiar with the obstacles that hinder development of places where people actually want to live. The devastating zoning laws prohibiting components of traditional neighborhoods such as alleyways and mixed commercial/residential structures contribute significantly. Noteworthy for its incisive indictment of urban sprawl and its deleterious social effects, this study offers tested solutions to future development as well as ideas for existing subdivisions to mend past design flaws. Foremost, the authors stress the importance of creating traditional neighborhoods — communities of homes and mixed-use buildings where foot traffic is promoted, not denigrated to the holy automobile. The societal and environmental damage caused by vehicle-dependent Americans is closely analyzed in these pages, and their findings tend to draw attention to victims of sprawl, including children, the elderly, reluctant commuters, and the urban poor. But the text isn’t heavy or tiresome; the writing is lively and entertaining throughout. By focusing on traditional methods of town planning (one example is Alexandria, Virginia, which was laid out by 17-year-old George Washington) and comparing them with the designs leading to sprawl, the authors are able to illustrate causal relationships between responsible planning and quality of life.
This article appears in September 1 • 2000.