Metroburbia, USA

by Paul L. Knox

Decades of economic prosperity in the United States have redefined the American dream. Paul Knox explores how extreme versions of this dream have changed the American landscape. Increased wealth has led America's metropolitan areas to develop into vast sprawling regions of "metroburbia"ùfragmented mixtures of employment and residential settings, combining urban and suburban characteristics. Upper-middle-class Americans are moving into larger homes in greater numbers, which leads Knox to explore the relationship between built form and material culture in contemporary society. He covers changes in home design, real estate, the work of developers, and the changing wishes of consumers. Knox shows that contemporary suburban landscapes are a product of consumer demand, combined with the logic of real estate development, mediated by design and policy professionals and institutions of governance. Suburban landscapes not only echo the fortunes of successive generations of inhabitants, Knox argues, they also reflect the country's changing core values. Knox addresses key areas of concern and importance to today's urban planners and suburban residents including McMansions, traffic disasters, house design, homeowner's associations, exclusionary politics, and big box stores. Through the inclusion of examples and photos, Metroburbia, USA creates an accessible portrait of today's suburbs supported by data, anecdotes, and social theory. It is a broad interpretation of the American metropolitan form that looks carefully at the different influences that contribute to where and how we live today.

Genres: Nonfiction

248 pages, Paperback

First published June 19, 2008

Reviews

[Noah Schumerth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great counterpoint to the New Urbanist vision. While I have stark disagreements with Knox's writing as someone who generally agrees with the New Urbanist/urban centrality school of thought, it is a book that planning scholars should have on their shelves.

[Stacie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gave me the shakes. If you're anti-sprawl, this book doesn't tell you much that you don't already know, and my critique is that it doesn't set up tools for growth management to mitigate the ill effects of sprawl.