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How Cities Work: Suburbs, Sprawl, and the Roads Not Taken
 
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How Cities Work: Suburbs, Sprawl, and the Roads Not Taken [Paperback]

Alex Marshall (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
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Product Description

From Library Journal

Marshall criticizes New Urbanism for being more about style than substance, but he acknowledges that the more it recognizes the hard truths of regional planning, the more it can become a positive force. A journalist by trade, Marshall writes with wit, reason, and style, effectively driving home his well-researched premise that cities exist and evolve based on transportation systems, the building of wealth, and government guidance or misguidance. He offers few solutions to current urban problems, setting his sights on enlightening the reader about why and how cities evolve. Marshall cites the human craving for simple solutions to complex problems and makes it clear that when people come together to plan a regional city consciously, as they have in Portland, OR, difficult choices must be made. [...] How Cities Work is very strongly recommended for both academic and public libraries as an excellent resource on the history and future of American cities. Drew Harrington, Pacific Univ., Forest Grove, OR
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Concern with traffic, environmental indifference and careless land development patterns, indeed, growing awareness of the many consequences of sprawl has led to calls for 'smart growth.' One of the smartest ways to prepare to effectuate smarter growth is to read How Cities Work. In a gentle but lucid and persuasive way Alex Marshall reminds us that the responsibility for making and maintaining good communities is a public one--that city-building is a public art dependent on public leadership, not acquiescence to private caprice. Anyone interested in helping to sustain rather than complain about the loss of community must read this book." --Alex Krieger, Chair, Department of Urban Planning and Design, Harvard Graduate School of Design "This is an outstanding book that I hope and expect will make a major contribution to the current debate on cities and suburbs." --Robert Fishman, author of American Planning Tradition: Culture and Policy and Bourgeois Utopias: The Rise and Fall of Suburbia " ... rich in evocative metaphors ... written in a lively style"--Geography, January 2002 "How Cities Work is an engaging read, containing important messages relevant not only to those in the urban design profession, but also to the wider public who have a role in deciding how cities should be shaped."--Journal of Urban Design, Vol. 7 No. 3, 2002
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Customer Reviews

10 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5.0 out of 5 stars engaging, diverse, and open-ended, Feb 18 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: How Cities Work: Suburbs, Sprawl, and the Roads Not Taken (Paperback)
Written in a lively and well-researched journalistic style, this book essentially lays down the pieces of a much larger puzzle that the reader must solve for him/herself. As other reviewers have mentioned, it does not offer many concrete solutions and it does not pretend to have easy answers. Instead, it is a far-reaching look at urban spaces, ranging from the new town of Celebration, Florida to the progressive and inspiring city of Portland, Oregon. Marshall also presents an intelligent and logical criticism of New Urbanism, which offers less satisfying and holistic solutions than its descendant, the SmartGrowth movement. Overall, this is an eye-opening, passionate, and highly readable book on the nuances of urban life and planning in contemporary America.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Confused reader, not analysis, May 20 2002
By 
"creativepotato" (Austin, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: How Cities Work: Suburbs, Sprawl, and the Roads Not Taken (Paperback)
A previous reviewer faulted the author for poor analysis. I don't think we read the same book.

Throughout the book, the author repeatedly explains issues of economy, transportation, and the power of governmental choice in the formation of cities. He points out, as few new urbanists do, that cities exist for the economic advantage of its citizens, that government makes real decisions about what kind of transportation system is to be utilized, and that it is the transportation system that ultimately determines the form of regions.

He effectively articulates that the functions of a city are innate and independent of the forms that city might take. To the author's credit, he clearly identifies his personal preferences for a developmental form that is transit oriented and dominated by urbanist forms.

The book is easy to read, and its theories are clearly and repeatedly stated. Is the book correct? Who knows. The author, very ambitiously, attempts to get at the very basics of the existence of the city form, and I think he proffers thoughtful and compelling arguments.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Good introduction to understanding forces that shape cities, April 12 2002
By 
This review is from: How Cities Work: Suburbs, Sprawl, and the Roads Not Taken (Paperback)
Many recently published books have been devoted to the plight of Urban sprawl. How Cities Work is a recommended addition. Clear, concise and to the point it establishes a solid perspective from which to view the choices that we have made in how we choose to live.

The book begins by asserting that the factors that shape any city are a combination of its Transportation, Economics and Politics. After creating a framework for understanding these factors the book presents a critique of the so-called "New Urbanism". Marshall chooses none other than Disney's Celebration in Orlando Florida as his case study for the New Urbanism movement. Contrasting the Potemkin-like Celebration with neighboring Kissimmee, Marshall examines the forces that shaped each. The history of Kissimmee, complete with its ups and downs, demonstrates the workings of an authentic city. Celebration, in comparison, shows itself to be all style and little substance.

Cities don't "just happen". It wasn't the simply the car or modern technology that shaped how we live today. Rather, it was the integration of the three forces of Transportation, Economics and Politics. The car is only as good as the roads that get built through government funding and a city's growth is shaped by the politics of zoning boards. The history of the last 50 years has shown that we have chosen a centrifugal direction for these forces. From general neglect of mass transportation to the emergence of restrictive covenants, we've chosen a path that has lead us to the creation of communities that serve to segment and isolate rather than bring together.

While Marshall's remedies, especially his penchant for generally left-wing approaches to social policy, may sometimes miss the mark, his book offers an excellent framework from which to approach the task of remaking our cities into much more livable places.

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