Suburban Nation
by Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Jeff Speck · first published 2000
13mentions
9recommended by
10HN commenters
2009–2023first – last mentioned
90% recommend10% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Argues that sprawl and car-dependent design reshape daily life and community, linking urban design patterns to real outcomes; recommended for readers new to city planning and those curious about American suburbs.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Suburban Nation is a groundbreaking analysis of the detrimental ecological effects and societal costs of late 20th century automobile-based settlement patterns and policies
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One of the books on his shelf is Suburban Nation (http://www.amazon.com/Suburban-Nation-Sprawl-Decline-America...) - worth a read. It's interesting because that book is to Urban Planning what tiny houses are to Architecture.
on “Micro-documentary on "A cool tiny home tour: living in 96 square feet"” ↗Check out The Walkable City by Jeff Speck or Suburban Nation. I believe both of those books touch on the lack of use of parking spaces. Especially with city codes requiring a certain number of spaces for businesses or residential structures even when said spaces…
on “Parking Lots Are a Waste of Space” ↗…"lucky" that they've mostly been built when cars weren't a thing yet, and also organically grew over much longer timespans. You should give Howard Kunstler‘s The Geography of Nowhere and Duany, et al.‘s Suburban Nation a read. (There are other good ones, too). They’d readily dispel the timing notion you suggest. Rather this bland outcome is clearly from adopting civil engineering and planning codes intentionally.
on “On Leaving California and the Silicon Valley” ↗You should give Howard Kunstler‘s The Geography of Nowhere and Duany, et al.‘s Suburban Nation a read. (There are other good ones, too). These will contextual like what an overhaul of the planning and codes process should look like.
on “Don't Be Anti Car. Be Pro Something Else.” ↗If you want an introduction into the policy side, read: Duany, et al.’s Suburban Nation. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780865477506 Kunstler‘s Geography of Nowhere. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Geography-Of-Nowhere/... It is extremely dismal but also theoretically fixable for…
on “Surveys show Americans want more walkable cities” ↗I'm currently reading Suburban Nation by Duany et al, and they talk about this exact thing - how the most desirable neighborhoods in old US cities like Boston or Washington are the old, dense, mixed-use parts of town. The book is twenty years…
on “What Le Corbusier got wrong and right in his design of Chandigarh” ↗…consume oil and gasoline. All of which will necessitate a great deal of work...enough for all.” —Le Corbusier, The Radiant City (1967) Quote is part of excerpt from an excellent book on the topic: "Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream" Also, "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" is a seminal work. http://www.radicalurbantheory.com/misc/subnation.html
on “Did highways cause suburbanization?” ↗This is hardly new in many regards. The excellent books "Suburban Nation", and "Bowling Alone", both written in late 90's do a great job connecting urban design patterns to life individual and community outcomes.
on “Do We Look Fat in These Suburbs? (2014)” ↗If you’re interested more in this topic, may I recommend the following books: - The Geography of Nowhere https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Geography_of_Nowhere - Suburban Nation https://books.google.ch/books/about/Suburban_Nation.html?id=... Much of the car-bound design resulted from zoning and simple the-rode-to-hell-is-paved-with-good-intentions. The problem is fixable, but…
on “How the Car Keeps Americans Apart” ↗…Market forces would love to build walkable mixed-use districts. A proud tradition of highly effective grassroots activism makes sure that they don't. You may find this talk [0], or the speaker's book Suburban Nation, enlightening. It's not at all the case that market forces need to be adjusted here. It's public policy which is broken. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMvwHDFVpCE
on “California Considers Placing a Mileage Tax on Drivers (2017)” ↗…presentation. If you're interested in systems design, especially through the lens of city planning and architecture, he's an interesting character to follow. Also, he and his firm wrote a book called "Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream", a good read!
on “A Fascinating Overview of the Rezoning and Preservation of Charleston,SC (2015)” ↗Whatever you don't pay for in money, you pay for in your time. I was pointed to this phenomenon by the book Suburban Nation thirty years ago, and it continues to explain so much.
on “The Old Internet Is Dying, and Something Worse Is Being Born” ↗…lots to say on it, but I'm not a great writer! https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-seniors-driving-id... https://jalopnik.com/what-i-mean-when-i-say-ban-cars-1849122... https://www.amazon.com/Suburban-Nation-Sprawl-Decline-Americ... https://twitter.com/bancars4life https://www.facebook.com/groups/whatwouldjanejacobsdo/
on “When you lose the ability to write, you also lose some of your ability to think” ↗