Rating  - The "A-ha" moment
I really must thank the authors for putting this together. I just finished Suburban Nation and I now know why I'm so stressed out all the time living in this "ticky-tacky" world (to borrow a line from the Weeds theme song).
I wish I could do more to help combat sprawl at the moment. However, I'm keeping my eyes open all the time for what works, what doesn't work and I will continue to study this subject so that if and when I'm in a position to either make a move or be part of a decision making body, I will be able to intelligently make my opinion known.
Rating  - The Suburbia Style In Its Worst - And Real - Perspective + Solutions For The Future Ahead
It's no wonder that the suburbia style brought so much finance and - why not - mental damage to our everyday lives. We gave up living smartly for living in beautifulness.
I believe that the sense of ownership prevails in suburbia much more than the sense of community. If you live in one for a long time, you probably know what I am talking about. Even if you don't, you might imagine how it feels to be in one.
I lived in one for quite a long time and must recognize its benefits: peacefulness, plenty of space to stroll around and not much of noisy neighbors. Surely it has its advantages. I really admire how beautiful some neighborhoods really are and can remain when apart from the hassles of the inner city.
But the need of taking my car to do absolutely everything from my basic needs just started to bother me as time went by and as my bills started to rise from such crazy oil consumption. One of the reasons why we are the biggest spenders in the entire planet is certainly the suburb predominance all over the country. Any doubt about it?
This book is absolutely wonderful. It traces back to the WWII era when everything started out. Government has promoted all of the land development we see today and which is still in high demand, unfortunately. What once was a success formula to promote economic development is today a "cancer" that we have to live and deal with. We were imposed to a lifestyle that we didn't necessarily want to live, and we now pay high taxes just to keep this "monster" alive. As the book brightly states on its pages: suburbs were made for cars, not human beings.
At some point in the book, authors state something that for me it is absolutely true: the archictecture is a science which is very undervalued in America. Obsolete and outdated zoning ordinances, traffic engineers more worried about the flow and the trucks that could pass on the streets and, most of all, community planning based on numbers and not aesthetics are the major rules when a new development takes place, leaving no room for smart development.
Smart growth requires a lot of thinking, and for the long run, but thinking isn't really one of the best characteristics of land developers and home builders who have no expertise on archictecture issues, but only on how to make money fast and effortlessly. However, I have to recognize that it's not all their fault. Smart growth will also require a major cultural shift from a society which became used with such sprawl standards, whether living this way is beneficial or not.
The book not only shows what went wrong with such aged growth policies, but also proposes solutions for building smarter towns and stimulates the creation of a community sense that today is just missing. Carefully written, is a reading that won't put you at sleep.
Rating - A must read for anyone involved in real estate development
The authors point out some obvious and not-so-obvious trends and benefits of recent architecture and urban planning. As a small builder and developer of urban "in-fill" housing, I thought this brought an excellent perspective to our industry on the changing climate of urban development in America. Immediatly bought ten copies for our employees to read (and reread).
Rating - Good Intro to Urban/Regional Planning
This is the first book I've read in the field of Planning. Very easy to read, informative, and really gets you excited about the material. I would recommend it highly
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