Don't Call It Sprawl: Metropolitan Structure in the 21st Century [Paperback]

William T. Bogart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 25, 2006

In Don't Call It Sprawl, the current policy debate over urban sprawl is put into a broader analytical and historical context. The book informs people about the causes and implications of the changing metropolitan structure rather than trying to persuade them to adopt a panacea to all perceived problems. Bogart explains modern economic ideas about the structure of metropolitan areas to people interested in understanding and influencing the pattern of growth in their city. Much of the debate about sprawl has been driven by a fundamental lack of understanding of the structure, functioning, and evolution of modern metropolitan areas. The book analyzes ways in which suburbs and cities (trading places) trade goods and services with each other. This approach helps us better understand commuting decisions, housing location, business location, and the impact of public policy in such areas as downtown redevelopment and public school reform.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Bogart takes the murky and overwrought issue of urban sprawl as his topic and succeeds in producing a literate and insightful book about urban economics. Don't Call It Sprawl is liberally sprinkled with illuminating and sometimes humorous quotations, and Bogart's conversational style is easy to read. Without resort to technical devices, Bogart explains the economic theories and statistical evidence that show why the pejorative view of "sprawl" is rooted in an obsolete view of urban economics. Not content with debunking old theories, Bogart offers a more relevant economic paradigm in which locations within a metropolitan region can be thought of as specialized "trading places," whose functions are constantly changing. Each change in land use is disconcerting to contemporary observers, but the changes are essential to the expanding urban economy. Don't Call It Sprawl does not hide its point of view, but Bogart's respect for his readers' intelligence will make them appreciate his insights even when they disagree with his conclusions." - William Fischel, Dartmouth University

“This book places sprawl in a historical context while presenting a unified review of the recent literature on polycentric urban areas. Bogart provides an economist's perspective on urban sprawl that is accessible to students and researchers in other disciplines.” - Daniel McMillen, University of Illinois at Chicago

“This wonderful book does the seemingly impossible: it brings refreshingly original insights to our understanding of modern cities within an intellectually coherent but empirically relevant unifying framework, and it thoroughly engages the reader throughout. By re-conceptualizing what cities are - a complex web of 'trading places' in which households and firms seek to accomplish a variety of goals simultaneously - it goes beyond simplistic models that miss the rich set of interactions which cities support and foster, I enthusiastically recommend this book to academics in search of new ideas, to policy makers in search of ways to improve life in modern cities, and to anyone with an interest in understanding where our cities have come from and where they are going.” - Thomas J. Nechyba, Duke University

"A leading writer in what has become known as the anti-anti-sprawl literature, Bogart provides strong evidence that what we see as edge-city chaos has in fact a strong logic, and that failure to appreciate the economic, social and demographic cases of sprawl will frustrate any attempt to control or direct it." - Literary Review of Canada

Book Description

Bogart puts the current policy debate over urban sprawl into a broader analytical context. He explains economic ideas about the structure of metropolitan areas to people interested in understanding the pattern of growth in their city. It then uses these ideas to analyze the impact and effectiveness of various policies.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 230 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1 edition (September 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 052167803X
• ISBN-13: 978-0521678032
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,082,429 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lacks solutions to North America's auto dependence and the automobile's impact on the environment, May 24, 2007

By 

Jonathan Davies (Ottawa, ON, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Don't Call It Sprawl: Metropolitan Structure in the 21st Century (Paperback)

I found this book interesting. I was interested to learn from it that public transit as a major player in the movement of people is a historical anomaly (having played a major role in the movement of people only in the late 19th century and the early 20th century). Although William Bogart offers solutions in this book for people who are too poor to afford a private automobile, and for those who too old or too young to drive, he did not offer solutions for those who are neither too young nor too old, and are not physically disabled, but are unable to drive because of a mental disability or a learning disability, nor for those who are able to drive but prefer not to because they care too much about the envionment, and the automobile's impact on the environment.