Date: Wed, 1 Mar 1995 12:46:53 -0800 (PST)
From: Scott London <london@rain.org>
Subject: A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE by Philip Langdon

Book Review:
~~~~~~~~~~~~

A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE
Reshaping the American Suburb
By Philip Langdon
Amherst, MA: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1994, 270 pages


"It is no coincidence," writes Philip Langdon, "that at the moment when
the United States has become a predominantly suburban nation, the country
has suffered a bitter harvest of individual trauma, family distress, and
civic decay."  Paradoxically, while many Americans are leaving the
city and moving to the suburb, it is becoming increasingly plain that the
typical suburban "community" fosters social isolation, dependence on the
car, long commutes, segregation of land use, and the breakdown of public
life. 
     The chief problem, according to Langdon, is not the high mobility of
American society so much as the way that suburbs are designed.  Most
suburban neighborhoods today are separated from services, shops, and
places of work, and they have no public transportation.  Many of today's
residential estates are designed as much for cars as for people, Langdon
says.  They are often laid out in a "pod" pattern of cul-de-sacs and
curvilinear streets that lead into main access routes, a system which
ultimately produces traffic congestion, the very thing it was designed to
avoid.  It also promotes isolation and atomization among residents who
rarely walk anywhere, interact with neighbors, or share the same public
facilities.  Furthermore, it separates people by race, income, profession,
and age. 
     There is growing attention to the problems of traditional suburbs
across the country today.  In a chapter called "The Rediscovery of the
Town," Langdon offers an extensive summary of the neo-traditional
community planning of Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Peter
Calthorpe, and other planners and designers.  Their approach to planning,
sometimes dubbed "the New Urbanism," stresses the importance of physical as
well as social and institutional connections in fostering community. 
     Langdon argues that a return to more traditional features of
neighborhoods is essential in order to restore the community spirit that
is lacking in so many suburbs today.  His proposals for restructuring the
suburb include organizing communities around well-defined public spaces;
creating generous networks of streets and sidewalks that encourage
residents to explore their neighborhoods; designing houses so that they
are more likely to facilitate involvement in the community; mixing up
houses of various sizes, types, and prices; and revising current zoning
laws in order to integrate the various functions of a community -- its
schools, stores, services, work places and residences. 


                                   Scott London * london@rain.org