Sprawl Books Reviewed

"Introducing her illustrated glossary, Ms. Hayden writes that 'naming is essential to defining problems.' But we name what we like, too. How can one not embrace the energy of the Boomburb, 'a rapidly growing, urban-sized place in the suburbs,' also called a Zoomburb in the South?

"...Mr. Gutfreund's three case studies -- Denver, Smyrna, Tenn., and Middlebury, Vt. -- show how government policies, rather than individual preferences, drove development patterns in sprawling directions. A key problem: the underpricing of automobile use. As roads clogged, the government response, reflecting Good Roads rhetoric, was to build more roads without doing anything about the disparity between the true costs of automobility and the charges passed on to motorists.

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Thanks to The Practice of New Urbanism Listserv