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

by Andres Duany (Author), Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk (Author), Jeff Speck (Author) "This book is a study of two different models of urban growth: the traditional neighborhood and suburban sprawl..." (more)
Key Phrases: United States, Los Angeles, Middleton Hills (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Like "an architectural version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, our main streets and neighborhoods have been replaced by alien substitutes, similar but not the same," state Duany, Plater-Zyberk and Speck in this bold and damning critique. The authors, who lead a firm that has designed more than 200 new neighborhoods and community revitalization plans, challenge nearly half a century of widely accepted planning and building practices that have produced sprawling subdivisions, shopping centers and office parks connected by new highways. These practices, they contend, have not only destroyed the traditional concept of the neighborhood, but eroded such vital social values as equality, citizenship and personal safety. Further, they charge that current suburban developments are not only economically and environmentally "unsustainable," but "not functional" because they isolate and place undue burdens on at-home mothers, children, teens and the elderly. Adapting the precepts that famed urbanologist Jane Jacobs used to critique unhealthy city planning, Duany, Plater-Zyberk and Speck call for a revolution in suburban design that emphasizes neighborhoods in which homes, schools, commercial and municipal buildings would be integrated in pedestrian-accessible, safe and friendly settings. While occasionally presenting unsupported claims--such as that gated communities (of which there are now more than 20,000 in the U.S.) deprive children of gaining "a sense of empathy" in a diverse society--their visionary book holds out hope that we can create "places that are as valuable as the nature they displaced." (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From The New Yorker
" . . . [They] set forth more clearly than anyone has done in our time the elements of good town planning."

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: North Point Press; 1st edition (April 16, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865476063
• ISBN-13: 978-0865476066
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 7.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8,674 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

85 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the ten best books on American life, March 30, 2004

By	Maddi Hausmann Sojourner "madhaus" (Silicon Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I found this book intriguing, because the authors understand why I like my neighborhood. Even better, they understand why I hate so many new housing projects. This is an important book, as vital as Jane Jacobs' work, and it has some uncomfortable truths to share. The US has become a Suburban Nation; a nation of badly-designed suburbs. The newest, more expensive ones are some of the worst.

My neighborhood has houses that are smallish, but sidewalks are everywhere. There are stores within reasonable walking distance, and not too many cul-de-sacs. Three parks are less than a mile away. That means I can walk more than one route to get places. More importantly, others walk the neighborhood too, so I actually meet my neighbors. A neighborhood built almost 50 years ago, the trees are mature (a rarity in Silicon Valley burbs) and provide shade, coolness, and beauty. 8000 square foot lots are neither so small that the houses are crushed together nor so large that walking seems to get you nowhere because it takes too long to pass each property.

Contrast this with the new developments going in: miniscule yards (and therefore little greenery), matchstick trees that don't receive any sun, overly wide arterials that offer only one way into or out of the development. Walls around the complex not only keep outsiders out, they prevent insiders from going out, too, unless they get in the car and crowd onto the only access road. Once in one's car, there is no opportunity to talk with neighbors on the inside, either.

Before reading Suburban Nation, I still had the same sense of what made a neighborhood compelling and we bought our home accordingly, preferring the old small house over the big new ones despite my need for closet space. Authors Duany, Plater-Zybeck, and Speck articulate these principals clearly and enjoyably. With many photographs illustrating both good and bad examples of city planning, Suburban Nation shows the consequences of bad assumptions as well as bad results. The authors like Winter Park, FL, because its downtown is walkable and residents, most of them retired and many who have given up driving, can easily participate in community life. They hate most of the new burbs being built because there is no there there, there's just a road from here to somewhere else with no central gathering point.

Most of the failure of the modern suburb is due to the automobile. Wider roads make a community less cohesive, because a wide road encourages speeding, while a narrow one encourages drivers to slow down, regardless of the posted speed limit. New communities have ridiculously wide roads, which not only lead to unsafe traffic but also discourages pedestrians. Cul-de-sacs, corners, and curves are overly wide as well, to accomodate uneeded 40 foot fire trucks; completely unneeded in a suburb where no building is over two stories but purchased by town councils wanting their fire chiefs to be happy. The net result is a 120 foot walk to cross a street instead of 40 feet because the corners are shaved to allow the stupid fire truck access, the fire truck the suburb DOES NOT NEED because a smaller truck would do just as good a job.

People claim to want to live in the suburbs for a smaller community, but the way they are built frustrates any chance of finding it. Planners consider schools to be traffic nuisances and build them away from central locations, yet larger schools are what leads to disconnection. Putting them on the boundaries instead of the center of town destroys a chance of meeting other children from the neighborhood, and further increases car usage. The authors ask why a school is considered a traffic nuisance rather than making them smaller to be community assets?

Duany and Plater-Zybeck have designed some marvelous new communities, and hope this well-written and ground-breaking book will publicize why they succeed. The first step is repealing the planning rules that prevent all these elements of vital community. Read Suburban Nation and find out how community building begins with good design.

52 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of Reviews of Suburban Nation, April 10, 2000

By	James Howard Kunstler "Jim" (Saratoga Spr., NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream (Hardcover)

I must say right out front that I gave this book a product endorsement known as a dust-jacket blurb, because I believe it is a book of terrific importance and high seriousness for a culture that is in trouble and needs help. The trouble is the fiasco of suburbia, and the help is the tremendously valuable service that Andres Duany, Lizz Plater-Zyberk, and their project manager Jeff Speck have done in writing this indispensible book, because it not only describes the American predicament with lucidity and precision, but it prescribes a set of excellent remedies with equal verve and intelligence. The architectural firm of Duany & Plater-Zyberk (DPZ) has shown really remarkable generosity to their colleagues over the past decade, giving away their expertise -- and the fruits of their hard work -- to virtually anyone who asked for it. Practically everything I know about civic design either came directly from them, or from a source they directed me to. I imagine they would have printed and distributed "Suburban Nation" themselves -- if it weren't for the fact that people generally don't feel something is worthy unless there is a price tag on it. But the contents of this book are truly priceless, and I regard "Suburban Nation" as a gift from a heroic and generous firm to their own culture. Like all good ideas whose time has come, the New Urbanist movement, in which DPZ played a major founding role, has been greeted with raspberries and skepticism by the gate-keepers of a beleaguered status quo. Life is tragic, and there will not be a guaranteed happy ending to the mess we have made of our American townscapes and landscapes. It is going to take the moral will of a self-confident and purposeful people to restore the everyday world of our nation. This important book offers good will, encouragement, and tremendous practical knowledge. One sure measure of its success is the opposition it is stirring up from the more culturally psychotic corners of America.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Absolutely Fantastic Book, March 25, 2004

By	Joseph Biskup (Sunnyvale, ca United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream (Hardcover)

I am not an architect or city planner, but I believe this book would be an interesting and informative read for anyone. It provides a lot of information and references for a professional and it is a great starting point for an amateur or concerned and active citizen. Additionally (and very difficult to accomplish all three), it is a very pleasant read for anyone else who wants to learn more about designing a neighborhood, how cities form, how to combat environmental destruction or simply why they do or don't enjoy a specific neighborhood.

Part of the success of this book for me was the format. There are small pages with wide margins. The margins allow for small black & white pictures directly next to the text they illustrate. The pictures by themselves are not very good, but they illustrate the text very well. Additionally, the authors used two systems of footnotes/endnotes (a system that I have not seen before) that expand and clarify the story very well, without bogging it down. For asides or amplifications, they have footnotes that you can quickly read, after you have finished your current line of thought. These sources are not always completely referenced, sometimes the authors only reference a series, article, or individual book; but if you are interested the source along with some additional thoughts from the authors are available. For the sources they are citing, the authors use a typical endnote system.

This book is a call to action. The authors try to explain the current problems with our cities (and consequently our lives) and some of their solutions. They do a very good job explaining their views, and I believe present a very convincing argument that these problems do not have one source or solution. The authors present problems with our cities today as problems that cut across all economic, social, environmental, occupational & cultural boundaries; and that only traditional neighborhoods cut across all these boundaries to solve these problems. The authors do NOT say that only architects or city planners can solve the major problems facing society today. Quite the opposite; they say that only an educated citizenry can solve these problems if they act truly collectively, and the only mechanism that they have seen that brings people together (across the above-mentioned boundaries) is a "traditional neighborhood".

I don't believe the authors are Ludites or are in any way opposed to modern technology or science; however, their basic position is that we need to re-read the texts from 100 years ago and stop using the latest gee-whiz-bang theory to design our cities and guide our lives. If fact, they directly state that experimentation is good; but that we should experiment on the rich because if the latest theory is cracked, the rich can always afford to move! Unfortunately, the rich and powerful seem to know that not all of the latest theories come out perfect the first time, so modern society experiments on the poor, with the predictable results.

Everyone should read this book!