Better, Not Bigger: How To Take Control of Urban Growth and Improve Your Community (Paperback)

by Eben V. Fodor (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
If you have had enough of endless growth, and want to do something about it, then Better NOT Bigger: How to Take Control of Urban Growth and Improve Your Community is the resource you've been searching for. Exploding the myth that growth is good for us, this book clearly and convincingly shows how urban growth can, in fact, leave our communities permanently scarred, and saddled with very high costs. Lively, accessible, and packed with insights, ideas, tools, and resources, Better NOT Bigger is for both the professional planner and the ordinary citizen.

About the Author
Eben Fodor has a background in renewable energy, specializing in high efficiency passive solar heating systems and solar-heated saunas. His professional work is as a community planning consultant based in Eugene, Oregon

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: New Society Publishers (November 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865713863
• ISBN-13: 978-0865713864
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #241,238 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Fodor doesn't offer any viable solutions, October 14, 1999

By A Customer

I have read many books on the subject of tackling suburban sprawl. Although the solutions offered by these books vary, they can be summarized as such: (1) Limit sprawl in rural areas and redirect it to higher-density redevelopment of existing urban and suburban areas. (2) Provide a viable alternative to automobile dependency in the form of walkable communities and quality public transit. Fodor ignores these solutions and instead proposes that individual communities should banish all growth from their jurisdictions. This is an easy trap to fall into, since for the last 50 years, most growth has been in the suburban sprawl mold, which is profitable for developers but generally damaging to communities and the environment. What Fodor fails to mention is that stopping growth in "your community" creates more sprawl in rural areas where there are fewer protesting residents. This growth will likely be of a lower density, and more car-dependant than the growth you had banished from "your community". If you want a more far-sighted view of what to do about suburban sprawl, read J.H. Kunstler's "The Geography of nowhere", or Newman & Kenworthy's "Sustainability and Cities".

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully Insightful, June 13, 2006

By	Will Winn (California) - See all my reviews

Mr. Fodor has done an excellent job of exposing the ins and outs of urban planning and growth. His sources are prolific and complete with a well balanced presentation of the challenges of growth and development to any community. For me, this book was a "suspicions confirmed" expose' of why it becomes so much more expensive to live in a city. This book is an excellent read with many interesting case studies, charts, analyses, and graphics and I have reviewed it and quoted it often as I have prepared to address our local planning commission and city council. Most of my urban planning and growth questions were addressed in this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Debunking of the Pro-Growth Myths, March 24, 2006

By	N. Lynch - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The public has come to accept growth as natural, or at least inevitable, as a result of unbalanced coverage in the media. Pro-growth forces, such as the building and real estate industries, are a significant source of advertising revenue, so there is little motivation to present alternative views. Fordor, in his book, presents carefully documented rebuttals to most of the common pro-growth arguments, making this an excellent book for readers who are concerned about environmental and municipal planning issues.