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What is it about modern American suburbs that has led to so much dissatisfaction? How has the typical suburban design of the past fifty years exacerbated the stress of daily life, and what better alternatives can be found? With these questions in mind, Philip Langdon crisscrossed the country to see how suburbs are being built and to interview designers, developers, planners, and residents. The first results of his research were published in a 1988 cover story in the Atlantic.
Since then, he has broadened his analysis to create this well-illustrated and highly readable book.
Training his eye on houses, streets, parks, gathering places, stores, employment and transportation, Langdon shows how these elements can generate frustration and isolation or, under better circumstances, contribute to a more congenial way of life. He points out the underappreciated virtues of older suburbs and takes a close look at the neotraditionalist movement in community design, whose advocates seek to emulate the most pleasing aspects of older suburbs.
Without ignoring the obstacles to change, Langdon shows how suburbs could be designed much differently than they are today - with networks of walkable streets, neighborhood stores and gathering places, compact town centers, and more varied and affordable housing. His book provides both an incisive critique of existing practices and an intriguing glimpse of some of the best work being done by a new generation of community designers.
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Previews available in: English
Subjects
Suburbs, Planning, Urban Sociology, United states, social life and customs, City planning, Banlieues, Planification, Design urbain, POLITICAL SCIENCE, Public Policy, Regional Planning, Lebensqualität, Stadtplanung, Vorort, Stedenbouw, Voorsteden, Vie en banlieue, UrbanisationPlaces
United States, United StatesEdition | Availability |
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1
A Better Place to Live: Reshaping the American Suburb
September 1997, University of Massachusetts Press
Paperback
in English
1558491066 9781558491069
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2
A better place to live: reshaping the American suburb
1995, HarperPerennial
in English
- 1st HarperPerennial ed.
0060976616 9780060976613
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3
A better place to live: reshaping the American suburb
1995, HarperPerennial
in English
- 1st HarperPerennial ed.
0060976616 9780060976613
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Libraries near you:
WorldCat
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4
A better place to live: reshaping the American suburb
1994, University of Massachusetts Press, University of Massachusetts
in English
- 1st ed.
0870239147 9780870239144
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5 |
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Book Details
First Sentence
"The United States has become a predominantly suburban nation, but not a very happy one."
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- Created April 30, 2008
- 10 revisions
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December 10, 2022 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
September 17, 2021 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
October 7, 2017 | Edited by MARC Bot | merge duplicate works of 'A better place to live' |
April 27, 2011 | Edited by OCLC Bot | Added OCLC numbers. |
April 30, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from amazon.com record |