Interview With The Author of 'A Field Guide To Sprawl'

Dolores Hayden is Professor of Architecture, Urbanism, and American Studies at Yale University. An urban historian and architect, she has written extensively about the history of American urban landscapes and the politics of design."I don’t think there’s anything wrong with living in the suburbs or having a patio. Most people would like to have some kind of affordable housing, some kind of connection to nature, and some sense of community. What’s wrong, though, is to have a federal government that hands so many subsidies off to road building and tract building and mall building, but does it in a very underhanded way so that most Americans couldn’t say what happened. If you ask, “What happened in 1954?” No one will tell you that the accelerated depreciation for malls and fast food franchises came through, even though it should be in every history textbook. Instead you probably get a couple of sentences saying that people discovered they liked to drive. And that’s not a real analysis of public policy. And I think if A Field Guide to Sprawl forces people to look harder at public policy around land use, I’ll be very happy."

Thanks to Paul Kiel