Cities Without Suburbs: A Census 2010 Perspective

By David Rusk and Rusk

Book Overview

Rusk updates his classic with data and analyses of the 2010 Census.

Cities without Suburbs, first published in 1993, has influenced analysis of America's cities by city planners, scholars, and citizens alike. David Rusk, the former mayor of Albuquerque, argues that America must end the isolation of the central city from the suburbs if it is to solve its urban problems.

Rusk's analysis, extending back to 1950, covers all metropolitan areas in the United States but focuses on the 137 largest metro areas and their principal central cities. He finds that cities that were trapped within old boundaries during the age of sprawl have suffered severe racial segregation and the emergence of an urban underclass; but cities with annexation powers--termed "elastic" by Rusk--have shared in area-wide development.

The fourth edition updates Rusk's argument using the 2010 Census and the American Community Survey. It provides new material on the difference between population trends and household trends, the impact of Hispanic immigration, and the potential for city-county consolidation. The fourth edition also brings added emphasis to "elasticity mimics"--a variety of intergovernmental policies that can provide some of the benefits of regional consolidation efforts in situations where annexation and consolidation are impossible.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1938027043
• ISBN13: 9781938027048
• Release Date: August 2013
• Publisher: Woodrow Wilson Center Press
• Length: 178 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 8.8"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Must-read for city policy-makers and social activists

David Rusk, former mayor of Albuquerque, NM, puts his experience and research to work in this compelling report. In it, he connects the economic and practical success of America's urban centers with the degree of socioeconomic and racial segregation present in each. The result is a blueprint that local, state and federal officials can use to reverse the troubling trends in our cities. Specifically, he calls for metro-wide planning councils, city-county consolidation, aggressive annexation by older central cities, and changes to state and federal laws to create unified cities without suburbs. The text also includes numerous interesting case studies that demonstrate what, when practiced, his ideas are capable of. Easy-to-read, fascinating, and enlightening. David Rusk is talking. Are America's city officials listening?