Derelict Landscapes: The Wasting of America's Built Environment (Geographic Perspectives on the Human Past) [Paperback]

John A. Jakle (Author), David Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1992 | ISBN-10: 0847677362 | ISBN-13: 978-0847677368

The success of World War II and the world economic hegemony that followed bolstered America's confidence to configure itself anew. Growth became a panacea to solve all problems since the American engine for change appeared boundless. Cities were turned inside-out as people, enterprise, and wealth fled to suburbs. Unfortunately, all has not been progress. American society has proven wasteful of its built environments. In "Derelict Landscapes", John A. Jakle and David Wilson present a portrait of various kinds of landscape dereliction in the United States - disinvestment, underutilization, vacancy, abandonment, and decay and degradation - and the cultural values that have underlain both personal and societal predispositions to be wasteful. They argue that a society can be known by the landscapes it creates and nourishes, and seek to answer the disturbing question: does widespread, chronic dereliction in the built environment suggest basic flaws in the American system? In the concluding chapters, Jakle and Wilson examine successful experiments at reversing dereliction and highlight the role of "locality-based communities" as an alternative to waste.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Pub Inc (May 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0847677362
• ISBN-13: 978-0847677368
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,704,399 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent summation of previous research on topic; good read, June 26, 1998

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[e-mail] (Virginia Beach, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Derelict Landscapes: The Wasting of America's Built Environment (Geographical Perspectives on the Human Past) (Hardcover)

For anyone fascinated by the urban landscape--and who seeks explanation for what they see--this book will probably hold your interest through to the end. It is unquestionably an excellent summation of most research on urban dereliction. I recommend it to anyone who, like me, is fascinated by the decay of American cities and who seeks explanation. However, there are three things that may bother you about the book: 1) the authors state it is a structurationist approach to the topic, but that turns out to be only posturing--it seems more structuralist, in fact, as it presents a world that seems the result of unseen forces acting themselves out through passive marionettes, not people capable of independent action; 2) the author's language is a little thick and somewhat ideosyncratic and, may I add, the tone leaves little doubt that this is the fact of the matter and further discussion of causes and meanings is unnecessary; 3) it does not reflect any of the more interesting possibilities recently evolving on the topic of cities in change--no discussions of narratives, memory, or the reader. Still, it's a great place to start, an excellent background read, and it's packed full of scholarship (even if it's a little dated). And it gives you the story the way most people understand it--if you want to develop a new interpretation, do it--but make sure you read this first!