Can the Garden Suburb Save the Suburbs?

“Can Paradise be Planned?” asks Allison Arieff in a recent op-ed. The article discusses new books by architect Robert A.M. Stern and photographer Christoph Gielen to look for reasons for optimism with regard to suburbs and planning.

1 minute read

April 21, 2014, 12:00 PM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Celebration Florida

John Sternbergh Photography / Shutterstock

In Paradise Planned: The Garden Suburb and the Modern City, Architect Robert A. M. Stern and co-authors David Fishman and Jacob Tilove “want to bring back the garden suburb, and in so doing hope to restore a ‘tragically interrupted, 150-year-old tradition,’” according to a recent op-ed by Allison Arieff.

The question Arieff, by way of Stern, asks is: “Can suburbia shift its own paradigm to give them something similar?” According to Arieff, “Stern would say yes — that the garden suburb can do just that.”

“Stern sees the garden suburb as an antidote to the current suburban sprawl but also views it as a smart way to think about what he calls in the book ‘the middle city,’ neighborhoods found in cities like Detroit, for example, where, he writes, ‘now, virtually empty of people and buildings, [they] have no discernible assets except the infrastructure of the streets and utility systems buried under them.’”

Arieff also makes brief mention of a new book of aerial photographs of contemporary suburbs by Christoph Gielen called Ciphers. According to Arieff, “The only rational response to these images would seem to be, ‘What the hell were we thinking?’”

Friday, April 18, 2014 in New York Times

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

July 16, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Green vintage Chicago streetcar from the 1940s parked at the Illinois Railroad Museum in 1988.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails

Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

July 13, 2025 - WTTV

Blue and silver Amtrak train with vibrant green and yellow foliage in background.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail

The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

July 14, 2025 - Smart Cities Dive

Worker in yellow safety vest and hard hat looks up at servers in data center.

Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power

Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.

July 18 - Inside Climate News

Former MARTA CEO Collie Greenwood standing in front of MARTA HQ with blurred MARTA sign visible in background.

MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns

MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.

July 18 - WABE

Rendering of proposed protected bikeway in Santa Clara, California.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant

A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.

July 17 - San José Spotlight