Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Only a generation ago all of the above were common. Most people lived in mixed-use neighborhoods. But the suburban life-style that is so dependant upon and so influenced by the automobile has substituted wheels for legs. It has replaced farmlands and woodlands with building sprawl-separate housing developments; separate retail malls; and separate office complexes.

Suburban Nation argues for a return to the neighborhood. It describes: how the existing system developed; what factors were responsible; how inefficient it is; and how we can restore neighborhoods.

Government was a major impetus for suburbia with: VA and FHA mortgage guarantees; zoning regulations, subsidies and government funding. Encouraging these governmental programs were the auto industry, the oil industry, the road and home builders. What has the suburban life-style brought? Many auto trips each day-for all those things we could accomplish on foot. Car upkeep has reduced the amount we could spend on housing. Despite extensive road building over the years congestion is worse, trips are longer and road rage increases. Thinking has become distorted. Government funding refers to "Highway Investment" as opposed to "Transit Subsidy"; and pays a $300 billion subsidy for trucking while scrutinizing every dollar for transit-yet trucking uses 15 times the fuel for an equivalent job; and 15 lanes of highway move as many people as one lane of track. One-half of air pollution emissions come from motor vehicles. Living in the suburbs is not safer for children. Auto accidents are twenty times more likely than gang activity to result in death. Suicides of teenagers, 12% of youth mortality which sociologists attribute to "teen isolation and boredom", are higher in the suburbs.

Restoring the neighborhoods will require regional planning and major rethinking. Multiple use building--housing, stores, offices-will constitute the neighborhood and must be coordinated on a regional basis. Public transit to be successful requires a minimum of seven units per acre.

If you answered "Yes" to the questions in the first paragraph, you will find this book valuable; if you answered "No", don't waste your time.

As a developer, I do agree with the authors ideas regarding mixed uses and building neighborhoods as opposed to subdivisions. It is my experience that the existing public works regulations primarily determine the final form of my work. The checklist in the appendix will be of some value to me. But I do not agree with the authors views that the automobile is the agent of the devil in their suburban hell.

Finally, I must object to the authors' notion that elected officials must "Do the right thing" and not listen to the citizens when various proposals come up for public hearings. The authors' hubristic subjectivity on this matter is overwhelming and can not stand unchallenged.