Joel Kotkin and Alan M. Berger discuss their new book, which analyses what the suburbs are and will become, in both the United States and around the world.
A new book, Infinite Suburbia, edited by Joel Kotkin and Alan M. Berger, looks at suburbia from a variety of perspectives. At more than 700 pages, it is a collection of essays from the perspectives of architecture, planning, history, and transportation, to name a few. The Architect's Newspaper interviewed Kotkin and Berger about it.
In the interview, Kotkin is quoted:
"Two trends that may seem counterintuitive to urbanists have been the rapid pattern of diversification in suburbs, which now hold most of the nation’s immigrants and minorities, as well as the fact that suburbs are more egalitarian and less divided by class than core cities."
Kotkin and Berger point out that suburbs are not just diversifying, but that many U.S. central cities exhibit suburban land use patterns. Conversely, many cities around the world have suburbs with housing that is primarily multifamily and dense, a far cry from the transitional American single-family home and manicured lawn.
They point out that the future of suburbs will continue to be denser, but also more environmentally friendly. Suburbanites will demand fewer golf courses in the future and more public trails and common landscapes. They also believe autonomous cars will transform suburbia, and take strain off of transit systems so they can focus on improving service in urban cores rather than expanding outward in less efficient ways.
FULL STORY: What if Everything You Know About the Suburbs is Wrong?
Oregon Passes Exemption to Urban Growth Boundary
Cities have a one-time chance to acquire new land for development in a bid to increase housing supply and affordability.
Where Urban Design Is Headed in 2024
A forecast of likely trends in urban design and architecture.
Savannah: A City of Planning Contrasts
From a human-scales, plaza-anchored grid to suburban sprawl, the oldest planned city in the United States has seen wildly different development patterns.
Washington Tribes Receive Resilience Funding
The 28 grants support projects including relocation efforts as coastal communities face the growing impacts of climate change.
Adaptive Reuse Bills Introduced in California Assembly
The legislation would expand eligibility for economic incentives and let cities loosen regulations to allow for more building conversions.
LA's Top Parks, Ranked
TimeOut just released its list of the top 26 parks in the L.A. area, which is home to some of the best green spaces around.
City of Rochester
Boston Harbor Now
City of Bellevue
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Birmingham, Alabama
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Colorado Department of Local Affairs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.