Sophia C. reviewed on 3/10/2012 + 289 more book reviews

How Cities Work: Suburbs, Sprawl, and the Roads Not Taken helped me think more deeply about sprawl and its root causes. Originally intended as a critique of New Urbanism, journalist Alex Marshall developed this theme into a book which articulately demonstrates that ultimately the decision is political, but with time how this authority has been wielded became less direct. Economy, transportation, and politics ultimately decide what and where things get built. Marshall gives four atypical examples, especially praising Portland for its growth boundary, metropolitan regional government, and conscious decision-making. Libertarians and other anti-government-minded individuals would probably not like his critique of how fundamental government inputs are for city-building, and wonder what such theory is doing in a book about urban planning. Instead, this book helped me understand more about how places came to be in America.

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