Customer Reviews

A Better Place to Live: Reshaping the American Suburb

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the most comprehensive yet concise book I have read on the topic of 'New Urbanism' and it's many parallel trends. It is loaded with pictures, diagrams, and maps that prove the point. Other than an unfortunate religious comment, the subject matter is presented in a fair and very readable format. This book should be required reading for planners, civil engineers, developers, bankers, appointed and elected officials, etc.---who are unknowingly promoting urban sprawl through their professional background and/or official policies.

Langdon describes why modern American suburbs, with typical cul de sacs, feeder roads, and strip malls, rob us of our sense of community and of our connections to our neighbors. He explains how the over-reliance on the automobile is both a cause and a result of these suburban designs. But he goes further, describing why older neighborhoods feel so much better to us-- neighborhoods with grid layouts, houses with front porches, homes placed fairly close to tree lined streets. If you've ever looked around at modern American developments and wondered why they feel alienating and uncomfortable, this book will answer your questions in fascinating detail. Langdon's prose is beautifully clear.

Reading this book started out as a requirement for my Urban Planning class. However, I became so interested in what Langdon had to say, and his easy to read diction, that I couldn't put it down. I would recommend this book to anyone who lives in the city, in the suburbs or anywhere in between. Everyone can relate to the issues that Langdon brings up, and they are truly interesting and relavent in today's society. A great book to use as an introduction to issues of urban planning and urban improvement.

Langdon's book is a gentle and articulate introduction to New Urbanism - the notion that our cities and our suburbs are a mess, and that in their place, we should have higher residential densities, mixed-use zoning, and pedestrian-oriented design. Langdon extols the benefits of the traditional street grid, and bemoans suburban developers' fascination with "pods" (i.e., clusters of cul-de-sacs). The author highlights the design of individual houses, and describes various ways of hiding garages and "granny apartments." Places given special attention include Seaside (Fla.), Kentlands (Md.), Laguna West (Cal.), Portland (Ore.), Kirkland (Wa.), and Bellevue (Wa.). The book is profusely illustrated with well over a hundred photographs and diagrams, a welcome change from authors who feel they can discuss this topic at length without a single illustration.

I read this book about 10 years ago and it really changed the way I think about how communities are built. I didn't like cookie cutter suburbs that were popping up everywhere (and I still don't), but before I read this book I only had some vague ideas about how a city could be better. This book gives some really great examples about specific things that can/should be done to make a city a nice place to live.

Langdon describes why modern American suburbs, with typical cul de sacs, feeder roads, and strip malls, rob us of our sense of community and of our connections to our neighbors. He explains how the over-reliance on the automobile is both a cause and a result of these suburban designs. But he goes further, describing why older neighborhoods feel so much better to us-- neighborhoods with grid layouts, houses with front porches, homes placed fairly close to tree lined streets. If you've ever looked around at modern American developments and wondered why they feel alienating and uncomfortable, this book will answer your questions in fascinating detail. Langdon's prose is beautifully clear.

There are more books that I can count that address American suburbs, and of the dozen or so that I have read this is by far the most comprehensive, best written, and most illuminating. Far from simply being a 250+ page rant about how bad suburbia is, Langdon offers an immense amount of very specific advice about how it can be made better. You don't have to be a landscape architect or planner to appreciate and enjoy this book. Anyone concerned with ensuring that we all have great places to live will benefit tremendously from reading it.

Mr. Langdon has some excellent points in his book. For instance, he makes a very convincing case that modern suburbia is sterile and that it encourages heavy reliance on the motor vehicle. He also offers good solutions, including more mixed-use neighborhoods, higher architectural standards, and different street layouts.

However, Mr. Langdon never adequately addresses a significant objection to his ideas: they are *expensive* to implement. At times, he does concede that his ideas would require higher expenditures on housing. Usually he counters this with arguments resembling "well, Americans don't need wet bars and a television set in every room. If only they would give that up, we could have more intimate communities." At times it seems as though he is actively encouraging Americans to consume less, an idea that could form the backbone of another book. In this book, it only detracts from his argument.

Sorry, Mr. Langdon. While Americans may want better communities, you can't force them to give up their television sets and wet bars in order to get them. Come up with a better way to pay for your ideas; otherwise, concede that the market has given modern Americans exactly what they want.