Sprawl : a compact history. / txt
Robert Bruegmann.
- 301 p. ill. ; maps ; 24 cm. book
Index
Bibliography
Contents: Introduction I -- Part 1 sprawl across the centuries : 1 Defining Sprawl 17 -- 2 Early Sprawl 21 -- 3 Sprawl in the Interwar Boom Years 33 -- 4 Sprawl in the Postwar Boom Years 42 -- 5 Sprawl since the 1970s 51 -- 6 The Causes of Sprawl 96 -- Part 2 the diagnosis : three campaigns against sprawl : 7 Early Anti sprawl Arguments 115 -- 8 The First Anti Sprawl Campaign : Britain in the 1920s 117 -- 9 The Second Anti sprawl Campaign : The United States in the Postwar Year 121 -- 10 The Third Anti sprawl Campaign : Since the 1970s 137 -- Part 3 the prescription : remedies for sprawl : 11 Earl Remedies : From Anti blight to Anti sprawl 169 -- 12 Postwar Anti sprawl Remedies 173 -- 13 Anti sprawl Remedies since the 1970s 199 -- Some Conclusions 220 -- Acknowledgments 226 -- Notes 231 -- Bibliography Essay 227 -- Index 281 --
As anyone who has flown into Los Angeles at dusk or Houston at midday knows, urban areas today defy traditional notions of what a city is. Our old definitions of urban, suburban, and rural fail to capture the complexity of these vast regions with their superhighways, subdivisions, industrial areas, office parks, and resort areas pushing far out into the countryside. Detractors call it sprawl and assert that it is economically inefficient, socially inequitable, environmentally irresponsible, and aesthetically ugly. Robert Bruegmann calls it a logical consequence of economic growth and the democratization of society, with benefits that urban planners have failed to recognize. In his incisive history of the expanded city, Bruegmann overturns every assumption we have about sprawl. Taking a long view of urban development, he demonstrates that sprawl is neither recent nor particularly American but as old as cities themselves, just as characteristic of ancient Rome and eighteenth century Paris as it is of Atlanta or Los Angeles. Nor is sprawl the disaster claimed by many contemporary observers. Although sprawl, like any settlement pattern, has undoubtedly produced problems that must be addressed, it has also provided millions of people with the kinds of mobility, privacy, and choice that were once the exclusive prerogatives of the rich and powerful --
Cities and towns--Growth Metropolitan areas--History--20th century City planning Urban policy Land use Democratization Economic development Urban sprawl