John King reviews two new books about New Urbanism: "The Seaside Debates", and "Big Plans." Can you replace suburbanism with New Urbanism?
"Inflated expectations are as much a part of urban history as skyscrapers or shopping malls. Whenever there's a problem, some group rises up with a utopian cure -- and smugly puts down the last group of would-be saviors.The result is an endless cycle where rhetoric and reality never quite meet. And it's a tension shown vividly in these two new books: "Big Plans," a too- casual history of dashed hopes, and "The Seaside Debates," where the latest planning movement prompts a genuinely stimulating tussle between skeptics and true believers."
Thanks to Laura Kranz
FULL STORY: Big debate over living in harmony
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Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
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Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
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