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Alex Marshall

How Cities Work : Suburbs, Sprawl, and the Roads Not Taken Paperback – January 1, 2001

by Alex Marshall (Author)

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Do cities work anymore? How did they get to be such sprawling conglomerations of lookalike subdivisions, megafreeways, and "big box" superstores surrounded by acres of parking lots? And why, most of all, don't they feel like real communities? These are the questions that Alex Marshall tackles in this hard-hitting, highly readable look at what makes cities work.

Marshall argues that urban life has broken down because of our basic ignorance of the real forces that shape cities-transportation systems, industry and business, and political decision making. He explores how these forces have built four very different urban environments-the decentralized sprawl of California's Silicon Valley, the crowded streets of New York City's Jackson Heights neighborhood, the controlled growth of Portland, Oregon, and the stage-set facades of Disney's planned community, Celebration, Florida.

To build better cities, Marshall asserts, we must understand and intelligently direct the forces that shape them. Without prescribing any one solution, he defines the key issues facing all concerned citizens who are trying to control urban sprawl and build real communities. His timely book will be important reading for a wide public and professional audience.

Print length

269 pages
Language

English
Publisher

University of Texas Press
Publication date

January 1, 2001
Dimensions

6 x 0.7 x 9.25 inches
ISBN-10

0292752407
ISBN-13

978-0292752405
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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Marshall criticizes New Urbanism for being more about style than substance, but he acknowledges that the more it recognizes the hard truths of regional planning, the more it can become a positive force. A journalist by trade, Marshall writes with wit, reason, and style, effectively driving home his well-researched premise that cities exist and evolve based on transportation systems, the building of wealth, and government guidance or misguidance. He offers few solutions to current urban problems, setting his sights on enlightening the reader about why and how cities evolve. Marshall cites the human craving for simple solutions to complex problems and makes it clear that when people come together to plan a regional city consciously, as they have in Portland, OR, difficult choices must be made. [...] How Cities Work is very strongly recommended for both academic and public libraries as an excellent resource on the history and future of American cities. Drew Harrington, Pacific Univ., Forest Grove, OR
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"This is an outstanding book that I hope and expect will make a major contribution to the current debate on cities and suburbs." (Robert Fishman, author of American Planning Tradition: Culture and Policy and Bourgeois Utopias: The Rise and Fall of Suburbia)

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Texas Press; First Edition (January 1, 2001)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 269 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0292752407
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0292752405
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.69 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.7 x 9.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,492,881 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #119 in Regional Politics Planning
- #765 in City Planning & Urban Development
- #915 in Urban Planning and Development

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4.0 33 ratings

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Alex Marshall

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A long time ago, I was driving past some old shacks in rural Virginia, in the western part of the state, and I wondered how the people in them were living. And suddenly it hit me. I wanted to find out, and I wanted to write about it. I wanted to be a writer.

So starting in that moment, I took steps to do just that. I started freelance writing, and eventually went to Columbia Journalism School, and then I became a newspaper reporter. I became a journalist, a profession that suits me because my inquiring nature is an asset rather than a liability, which it had been before then.

I'm still a journalist, still a writer, though I don't work for a daily newspaper anymore. I still am trying to figure out how the world works, and tell about it. I have a perhaps a naive belief that if people understand how the world works, they will seek to use that information to make it better.

Some basic bio information about me. I'm the author of three books, the latest being The Surprising Design of Market Economies (Texas 2012), which is my opus of sorts. ((I have also contributed to other books.) I'm a native of Norfolk, Virginia, being born there in 1959 and lived and worked there as an adult. During my career, I have most focused on writing about cities, although I also have written about economics, wine, food and fashion. And politics. I’m a full-service cultural critic. I have been living with my wife and children in Brooklyn for more than two decades, although in recent years we have been taking sojourns in Europe.

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P.K. Ryan

How Cities Work

Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2007

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I bought this book because I wanted an introduction to urban studies without having to slog through a dry, academic textbook. What I got was not really an introduction to the subject, but rather a polemic against the current trends of urban planning, and the ever-growing dominance of suburban sprawl and the personal automobile. This is not to say that Marshall doesn't describe the basics of planning, he does, but this serves mainly as the backbone of his argument; that being that the car and the massive freeway systems that accompany them, have basically destroyed the city and the notion of community. We live in an aimless, rootless society, he argues, with no sense of place or meaning.

He starts by explaining that cities are founded on three basic components; transportation, politics, and economics. What type of city you will have depends on the type of transportation system you have, and the type of transportation you have depends on political decisions. And economics are the whole reason cities exist in the first place argues Marshall, "cities exist because they create wealth."

Marshall spends a good portion of the book criticizing "New Urbanism" which basically embraces suburban sprawl and artificial communities like Celebration, Florida. These communities, argue Marshall are trying to build new urban communities without the transportation systems that are needed to support them, and thus are bound to fail. Marshall supports things like growth boundaries to help revitalize inner cities instead of just continuing to spread outward, eating up more precious land and resources while leaving the center city areas to decay. He supports more government involvement in such matters and thus will make no friends out of the free trader types. Overall, I think Marshall makes a compelling case, although I think he tends to blame too many of societies problems on suburban sprawl. I am a lifelong suburbanite myself and I have a love/hate relationship with the burbs. I like the privacy and convenience it affords me, but I can't help but emphatically agree with this statement by Marshall:

"I believe...that the generally fragmented lives so many of us lead break up marriages, disturb childhoods, isolate people when they most need help, and make life not as much fun. We live, to speak frankly, in one of the loneliest societies on earth."

Can all this be blamed on the car and suburban sprawl? Probably not, but I would whole-heartedly recommend this compelling read anyway. Four stars.

7 people found this helpful

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D. Richardson

Interesting consideration

Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2022

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Should have had a more effective editor. The fragments and absolutes with "which" intrude. Which are irritating. Q.E.D.

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Mike Hathorne

I wish you could give less than 1 star!

Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2011

Verified Purchase

This book was suggested to me by a friend. He had to read it as part of an urban design class in college. To his credit he didn't vouch for the book from a standpoint of recommending it as a good read, so I take responsibility for having bought it.

I was grossly disappointed to the point of being offended at the lack of understanding that the author had for the principles of new urbanism. Having studied, taught, and worked directly with new urbanism as an urban planning discipline I am well versed in both its strengths and weaknesses. I was dumbfounded by the lack of journalistic presentation of new urbanism. The misrepresentation of its principles was astounding. The author fell into stereotypes that were unfounded and unsupportable. His presentation was rudimentary at best. Knowing what I do about the subject matter made it difficult to read because of how uniformed the author was.

Ultimately, this author won in my case because he got my money when I bought the book. My hope is that I can save others from the same fate. There are far better books to be reading on the subject matter rather than this one. I implore you to SPEND YOUR MONEY ELSEWHERE!!!

2 people found this helpful

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Sergio Bayona

a great reading about cities and urban development

Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2018

Verified Purchase

This book provides planners, architects, and city designers an alternative perspective of how cities are form. Marshall main point is that places are shaped by the transportation system that government authorities choose to implement as well as the political system employed. Although, he is not an expert in city planning nor in architecture, Marshall gives a good criticism of planners and policy makers who favor urban development in the form of sprawling. Another point I enjoyed was the comparison between European and American cities, reflecting about how people live, work, and carry out their social activities.

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Jordan L. Rockwell

Inspirational Book, excellent writing, good intro to sprawl and political economy of transportation

Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2010

Verified Purchase

This book fundamentally changed how I think about how are cities are constructed and how they function. Marshall provides a thorough and very readable (much more so than most academic texts) introduction to the basic forces that create and shape cities.
I found the book to be irreverent and compelling in it's analysis of the political, economic and transportation forces that shape cities. Great critical discussion of new urbanism as well. I lived in Jackson Heights for a few years and he is spot on in his laudatory description of it as an urbanist's dream.

Alex: Please write an update! This is a bit dated now but still very relevant...

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D. Pennington

Easy solutions not offered here.

Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2001

Verified Purchase

Marshall, lays it out. Our cities are determined by our transportation choices and our transportation choices are political decisions. Not a very sexy situation and no easy solutions for so many American cities. For Marshall, front porches, alleys and over designed communities ala Andres Duany cover over and contribute to sprawl.
As a Portland Metro resident I'm happy Marshall feels so good about what Portland is doing, but I worry about the rest of Oregon and any urban area that is not investing in transportation options beyond larger, faster roads. Marshall is a fan of Oregon's Urban Growth Boundaries, but fails to realize the continual outward creep they are subject to.
The book is a good read for beginners and those familiar with urban design. Marshall's formal occupation as journalist helps make the reading easy. Suburban Nation (by Duany) makes a good companion. Enjoy.

9 people found this helpful

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