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

by Anthony Flint

Book Overview

Despite a modest revival in city living, Americans are spreading out more than ever--into exurbs and boomburbs miles from anywhere, in big houses in big subdivisions. We cling to the notion of safer neighborhoods and better schools, but what we get, argues Anthony Flint, is long commutes, crushing gas prices and higher taxes--and a landscape of strip malls and office parks badly in need of a makeover.

This Land tells the untold story...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801884195
• ISBN13: 9780801884191
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Very balanced and insightful

I find Anthony Flint very balanced and insightful in this book. I like the fact that this book's author, in addition to explaining how and why sprawl came about in the first place, the drawbacks of sprawl, and the solutions to it, also explains the reasons why there is so much resistance to the alternatives to sprawl, and the solutions to that resistance.

America the Beautiful

Anthony Flint does a great job of enlightening us about the history of sprawl in America and how we got to where we are today. It sure surprised me. He also offers solutions to the problems of sprawl, so the book provides hope. This Land is well written and easy to understand.

A wide-ranging survey of defenders and contenders of sprawl

THIS LAND: THE BATTLE OVER SPRAWL AND THE FUTURE OF AMERICA charts the evolution of development in America: a process which holds political, social and economic clashes and influences throughout the process. From the roots of the anti-sprawl movement in the 1960s to issues of property and personal rights, developer rights, finances and more, THIS LAND comes from a journalist who covered planning and housing for the Boston Globe for sixteen years. His background lends to a wide-ranging survey of defenders and contenders of sprawl. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

Land Use pitched battles

Fascinating treatment of the burgeoning struggle of urban sprawl (now exurban sprawl) vs. planned development in 21st century America. Another "inconvenient truth, blending the source of the energy crisis, "green" concerns, local food production, and legal armageddon over eminent domain. Lively writing from a former Boston Globe reporter.