War on the Dream: How Anti-Sprawl Policy Threatens the Quality of Life [Paperback]

Wendell Cox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 3, 2006

People around the world associate the “universal dream of home ownership” with an unprecedented improvement in quality of life. But there is a war on this dream, the result of policies that seek to control urban sprawl or suburbanization. The proponents and governments that implement such anti-suburban policies do so with little debate and virtually without any serious analysis of the consequences.

Anti-suburban policies outlaw development on large swaths of land, creating scarcity and increasing housing prices. This means less home ownership in the future and less wealth creation. Anti-suburban policies hopelessly seek to force people to use mass transit instead of cars, while failing to build roadway capacity to accommodate rising demand. The result is more intense traffic congestion, air pollution, and less productive urban areas.

Author Wendell Cox takes a closer look at this growing problem in War on the Dream: How Anti-Sprawl Policy Threatens the Quality of Life. With most of the world still living in relative poverty, it is clear that neither economic growth nor wealth creation can be taken for granted. Anti-suburban policies must be rejected and repealed. Only by such actions will national economies and their urban areas be positioned to ensure that future generations have a better quality of life.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Wendell Cox is an international demographic, urban policy, and transport consultant. He is a visiting professor at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers in Paris and served terms on the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission and the Amtrak Reform Council. Cox lives in the metropolitan St. Louis area.

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (November 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595399487
• ISBN-13: 978-0595399482
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #667,404 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Flawed and wrong, December 1, 2009

By 

Post Graduate Planning Student (Australia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: War on the Dream: How Anti-Sprawl Policy Threatens the Quality of Life (Paperback)

As a planning student, I read this book to get a different view from the mainstream on how to meet the housing demands of the world's growing population. While the book is well researched, I generally found his arguments to be weak and/or flawed on many levels. The author advocates unending urban sprawl, while it is easy to demonstrate that unending sprawl is socially, economically and environmentally unsustainable. He also tries to develop an unhelpful fear campaign about higher density living. This book deserves to go in the recycle bin.

14 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Solid facts about Not So "Smart Growth", March 31, 2009

By 

K. Mangus (TC, Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: War on the Dream: How Anti-Sprawl Policy Threatens the Quality of Life (Paperback)

This book is a must read for anyone concerned about regulatory takings, private property rights, and social engineering. Mr. Cox provides hard data to answer the "but it looks pretty" arguments that plague current planning and zoning philosophy. I discovered his book while looking for answers after a proposed "Smart Growth" zoning ordinance in my Township threated my property thru regulatory takings. Mr. Cox's focus is on the true costs and economic realities too often ignored when our elected officials blindly follow the latest fads. The text is information heavy but definately worth the time and energy. It's like a crash corse in history, economics, social engineering, as it pertains to planning and zoning. This book will make you proud of where we come from and concerned about where we are going.

9 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I've actually read the book..., October 17, 2010

By 

P. D. Park (SF Bay Area) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: War on the Dream: How Anti-Sprawl Policy Threatens the Quality of Life (Paperback)

Unlike the one star reviewers, I've actually read the book - the author addresses the so-called concerns of these "reviewers".

Get the book and read it for yourself, don't blindly follow the eco-party line of the one-star reviewers of this book. Freedom leads to greater prosperity which leads to a better environment - period. "Sprawl" just means the neo-utopian planners don't get to tell us where to live. "Sprawl" means low income housing that people actually want to live in instead of the government created low-income crack house neighborhoods no one wants to live in.

My NIMBY neighbors shot down a housing development near where I live. Their desire for a nice view of open space near their home is more important than the private property rights of the owners of that open space who want to develop it, and more important than the young couple who work two jobs each in the service sector, probably cleaning the offices and/or houses of those who just denied them a home in the town where they work. Their commute, btw,is on a dangerous one-lane (in each direction, of course), high-traffic road that can't be widened because of eco-fanatics that require endless multi-million dollar enviro studies and unions that require wages, vacations, and pensions none of us will ever see in the private sector for similar jobs/skills.

It is not the American dream these proponents of central planning (didn't they get the memo: socialism failed) are crushing, but the universal dream of freedom. The freedom of a low-income family to afford a decent house in a safe neighborhood. They should be ashamed of themselves and we should not fall for their techno-eco-babble justifications for restricting freedom.