This Land: The Battle over Sprawl and the Future of America
An expert in American housing examines the rise of sprawling subdivisions, their effect on the environment, and sustainable development strategies.

Americans are spreading out more than ever—into “exurbs” and “boomburbs” miles from anywhere, where big subdivisions offer big houses. We cling to the notion of safer neighborhoods and better schools, but what we get are longer commutes, higher taxes, and a landscape of strip malls and office parks.

The subdivisions and extra-wide roadways are encroaching into the wetlands of Florida, ranchlands in Texas, and the desert outside Phoenix and Las Vegas. But with up to 120 million more people in the country by 2050, will the spread-out pattern cave in on itself? Could Americans embrace a new approach to development?

In This Land, veteran journalist and Harvard scholar Anthony Flint tells the untold story of development in America. It is the story of a burgeoning anti-sprawl movement, a 1960s-style revolution of New Urbanism, smart growth, and green building. And it is the story of landowners fighting back on the basis of property rights, with free-market libertarians, homebuilders, road pavers, financial institutions, and even the lawn-care industry right alongside them.
1117176346
This Land: The Battle over Sprawl and the Future of America
An expert in American housing examines the rise of sprawling subdivisions, their effect on the environment, and sustainable development strategies.

Americans are spreading out more than ever—into “exurbs” and “boomburbs” miles from anywhere, where big subdivisions offer big houses. We cling to the notion of safer neighborhoods and better schools, but what we get are longer commutes, higher taxes, and a landscape of strip malls and office parks.

The subdivisions and extra-wide roadways are encroaching into the wetlands of Florida, ranchlands in Texas, and the desert outside Phoenix and Las Vegas. But with up to 120 million more people in the country by 2050, will the spread-out pattern cave in on itself? Could Americans embrace a new approach to development?

In This Land, veteran journalist and Harvard scholar Anthony Flint tells the untold story of development in America. It is the story of a burgeoning anti-sprawl movement, a 1960s-style revolution of New Urbanism, smart growth, and green building. And it is the story of landowners fighting back on the basis of property rights, with free-market libertarians, homebuilders, road pavers, financial institutions, and even the lawn-care industry right alongside them.
13.49 In Stock
This Land: The Battle over Sprawl and the Future of America

This Land: The Battle over Sprawl and the Future of America

by Anthony Flint
This Land: The Battle over Sprawl and the Future of America

This Land: The Battle over Sprawl and the Future of America

by Anthony Flint

eBook

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Overview

An expert in American housing examines the rise of sprawling subdivisions, their effect on the environment, and sustainable development strategies.

Americans are spreading out more than ever—into “exurbs” and “boomburbs” miles from anywhere, where big subdivisions offer big houses. We cling to the notion of safer neighborhoods and better schools, but what we get are longer commutes, higher taxes, and a landscape of strip malls and office parks.

The subdivisions and extra-wide roadways are encroaching into the wetlands of Florida, ranchlands in Texas, and the desert outside Phoenix and Las Vegas. But with up to 120 million more people in the country by 2050, will the spread-out pattern cave in on itself? Could Americans embrace a new approach to development?

In This Land, veteran journalist and Harvard scholar Anthony Flint tells the untold story of development in America. It is the story of a burgeoning anti-sprawl movement, a 1960s-style revolution of New Urbanism, smart growth, and green building. And it is the story of landowners fighting back on the basis of property rights, with free-market libertarians, homebuilders, road pavers, financial institutions, and even the lawn-care industry right alongside them.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780801889172
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date: 04/27/2021
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 380
File size: 3 MB
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Anthony Flint is a fellow and director of public affairs at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is the author of Wrestling with Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took on New York's Master Builder and Transformed the American City.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Developing America
1. Grids and Greenfields
2. Suburbia's Promise, and Curse
3. New Paradigm: New Urbanism
4. The Smart Growth Revolution
5. Walk Daily, Buy Local, Build Green
6. Hands Off My Land
7. Dream Defenders and Sprawl Inc.
8. Pitched Battles
9. The Density Dilemma
10. Smart, and Fair
11. Planning and Disaster
Conclusion: Six Healthy Habits for Sensible Growth
Notes
Bibliographical Essay
Acknowledgments
Index

What People are Saying About This

Ben Bradlee Jr.

A revealing portrait of how America lives today. His trenchant chronicling of the emerging smart growth movement's challenge to the suburban sprawl ethos is a clarion call for a national conversation about how the country should grow.

Ben Bradlee Jr., author and former Deputy Managing Editor of the Boston Globe

E. O. Wilson

This important book is spot-on in its analysis of America's deepening land use problems and refreshingly upbeat in its account of win-win solutions arising around the country. Flint's fingertip knowledge of detail is especially to be admired.

E. O. Wilson, Pellegrino University Professor Emeritus at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University

Richard Florida

With evidence growing regarding the impact of density on innovation and economic growth, Anthony Flint's excellent This Land couldn't come along at a better time. It's an essential read for those working to understand and build more vibrant and livable communities.

Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class and The Flight of the Creative Class

From the Publisher

With evidence growing regarding the impact of density on innovation and economic growth, Anthony Flint's excellent This Land couldn't come along at a better time. It's an essential read for those working to understand and build more vibrant and livable communities.
—Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class and The Flight of the Creative Class

A revealing portrait of how America lives today. His trenchant chronicling of the emerging smart growth movement's challenge to the suburban sprawl ethos is a clarion call for a national conversation about how the country should grow.
—Ben Bradlee Jr., author and former Deputy Managing Editor of the Boston Globe

Among the hundreds of books about metropolitan growth, This Land stands out as an extremely engaging and perceptive chronicle of the current state of the smart growth and new urbanist movements. Highlighting the fundamental American tension between individual and collective purposes, Flint compellingly articulates the challenges ahead.
—Ann Forsyth, Director, Metropolitan Design Center

This important book is spot-on in its analysis of America's deepening land use problems and refreshingly upbeat in its account of win-win solutions arising around the country. Flint's fingertip knowledge of detail is especially to be admired.
—E. O. Wilson, Pellegrino University Professor Emeritus at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University

Ann Forsyth

Among the hundreds of books about metropolitan growth, This Land stands out as an extremely engaging and perceptive chronicle of the current state of the smart growth and new urbanist movements. Highlighting the fundamental American tension between individual and collective purposes, Flint compellingly articulates the challenges ahead.

Ann Forsyth, Director, Metropolitan Design Center

Edward O. Wilson

This important book is spot-on in its analysis of America's deepening land use problems and refreshingly upbeat in its account of win-win solutions arising around the country. Flint's fingertip knowledge of detail is especially to be admired.

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