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

Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream
by Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Jeff Speck

Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream
List Price: $19.00
Our Price: $10.62
You Save: $8.38 (44%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $10.00 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Jeff Speck
Edition: Paperback
Published: 2001-04-16
ISBN: 0865476063
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: North Point Press

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

Book Review: A good intro to the problems of urban planning
Summary: 4 Stars

I really enjoyed the book. I gave it a 4 and I think it is very well deserved. Reading my review may lead you to think otherwise because there is a lot of sharp criticism of particular aspects of the book. Overall though, the book really points out the folly of suburban planning and it helped me better understand why I am leaving the suburbs for an urban lifestyle. There are some great insights that I don't think I would have ever heard anywhere else. For example, he attributes the fact that most streets are unwalkable to firetrucks. The fire chief has to have the biggest and best firetruck so the roads have to be built to accomodate that firetruck when it is traveling to an emergency so the roads are large enough to allow everyone to speed in even the most residential areas.

Like most of us, Duany is a one tool kind of carpenter. Since he only has a hammer, everything is a nail. Mr. Duany's hammer is Seaside, Florida which he thinks is the solution to every problem. For example, when I heard him speak concerning the revitalization of midtown Atlanta, his only criticism was the fact that there were only a few developers on Peachtree street and they were all building 20 to 35 story high-rise condominiums as opposed to much smaller developments such as townhouses. He ignored the fact that land costs on Peachtree Street would make a townhouse completely unaffordable. He also seemed to have missed the fact that one block off Peachtree Street in any direction there is an abundance of single-family housing, low-rise condominiums, townhouses, etc.

I get the impression that he doesn't understand that Seaside and many of his other developments are not economically sustainable. Seaside exists because people make money somewhere else, take it to Seaside and use it to pay for a little peace of nirvana. While Seaside is certainly a great place, it would be non-existent or a slum if people didn't invest money earned elsewhere. I know he has worked on many projects and many are filled with residents that live and work in what might be calles "real jobs" as opposed to a tourist economy. However, even in those environments, the economy is supported by people that wake up in one of his bedroom communities and commute to a real city to make money.

That's my complaint in a nutshell, however, if you want a basic overview of what is wrong with Suburban America and one of many ideas how to fix it, I encourage you to take a read. The one other comment I would have about his work is that he seems to advocate pre-war bungalow style architecture above and beyond every alternative. If that is what you are looking for great, however, it is completely lacking in innovation and would eventually drive me crazy. Seaside was featured in the Truman show for a reason, because it is sickeningly sweet and completely artificial just like all the other characters.

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

A manifesto by America's most controversial and celebrated town planners, proposing an alternative model for community design.

There is a growing movement in North America to put an end to suburban sprawl and to replace the automobile-based settlement patterns of the past fifty years with a return to more traditional planning principles. This movement stems not only from the realization that sprawl is ecologically and economically unsustainable but also from a growing awareness of sprawl's many victims: children, utterly dependent on parental transportation if they wish to escape the cul-de-sac; the elderly, warehoused in institutions once they lose their driver's licenses; the middle class, stuck in traffic for two or more hours each day.

Founders of the Congress for the New Urbanism, Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk are at the forefront of this movement, and in Suburban Nation they assess sprawl's costs to society, be they ecological, economic, aesthetic, or social. It is a lively, thorough, critical lament, and an entertaining lesson on the distinctions between postwar suburbia-characterized by housing clusters, strip shopping centers, office parks, and parking lots-and the traditional neighborhoods that were built as a matter of course until mid-century. It is an indictment of the entire development community, including governments, for the fact that America no longer builds towns. Most important, though, it is that rare book that also offers solutions.

General Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in what's on a design blogger's bookshelves?
Shark-Infested Waters: The Saatchi Collection of British Art in the 90s ImageShark-Infested Waters: The Saatchi Collection of British Art in the 90s
by Sarah Kent
Philip Wilson Publishers; Published: 2004-01-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $26.01
Price in other shops: $31.95
Fresh Cream ImageFresh Cream
by Editors of Phaidon Press
Published: 2000-01-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $42.46
Price in other shops: $59.95
KGID: Konstantin Grcic Industrial Deisgn ImageKGID: Konstantin Grcic Industrial Deisgn
by Florian Bohm
Phaidon Press; Published: 2007-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $25.17
Price in other shops: $39.95
Art in Modern Culture (Open University Set Book) ImageArt in Modern Culture (Open University Set Book)
by Francis Frascina
Published: 1994-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.91
Price in other shops: $19.95
Isamu Noguchi: A Sculptor's World ImageIsamu Noguchi: A Sculptor's World
by Bonnie Rychlak, Isamu Noguchi
Steidl; Published: 2004-07-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $40.95
Price in other shops: $65.00
New Visual Culture of Modern Iran: Graphic Design,illustration, Photography ImageNew Visual Culture of Modern Iran: Graphic Design,illustration, Photography
by Reza Abedini
Mark Batty Publisher; Published: 2006-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $28.85
Price in other shops: $49.95
Felix Gonzales-Torres ImageFelix Gonzales-Torres
by William Bartman, Tim Rollins, Jan Avgikos, Susan Cahan
A.R.T. Press; Published: 1993; Paperback; Book
Best price: $35.00
The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Modern Library Series) ImageThe Death and Life of Great American Cities (Modern Library Series)
Modern Library; Published: 1993-02-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.36
Price in other shops: $21.95
Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan ImageDelirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan
by Rem Koolhaas
Monacelli; Published: 1997-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $21.95
Price in other shops: $35.00
No One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories ImageNo One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories
by Miranda July
Scribner; Published: 2007-05-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops: $23.00
Similar Books and other products
Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America and How We Can Take It Back ImageAsphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America and How We Can Take It Back
by Jane Holtz Kay
University of California Press; Published: 1998-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.70
Price in other shops: $25.95
The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century ImageThe Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century
Grove Press; Published: 2006-03-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $22.11
The Image of the City ImageThe Image of the City
by Kevin Lynch
The MIT Press; Published: 1960-06-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.74
Price in other shops: $22.00
Sprawl: A Compact History ImageSprawl: A Compact History
by Robert Bruegmann
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 2006-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops: $17.00
Edge City: Life on the New Frontier ImageEdge City: Life on the New Frontier
by Joel Garreau
Anchor; Published: 1992-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops: $17.95
Home from Nowhere: Remaking Our Everyday World for the 21st Century ImageHome from Nowhere: Remaking Our Everyday World for the 21st Century
by James Howard Kunstler
Touchstone Press; Published: 1998-03-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.94
Price in other shops: $15.00
Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States ImageCrabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States
by Kenneth T. Jackson
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1987-04-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.25
Price in other shops: $19.95
The New Urbanism: Toward an Architecture of Community ImageThe New Urbanism: Toward an Architecture of Community
by Peter Katz
McGraw-Hill Professional; Published: 1993-10-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $25.95
Price in other shops: $59.95
The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape ImageThe Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape
by James Howard Kunstler
Free Press; Published: 1994-07-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.96
Price in other shops: $15.00
The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Modern Library Series) ImageThe Death and Life of Great American Cities (Modern Library Series)
Modern Library; Published: 1993-02-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.36
Price in other shops: $21.95
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories