ABSTRACT

This is a book about the reality of place in America, the events and influences that led to the America we recognize today. It is a book about the growth of American cities and their suburbs during the twentieth century, about institutions and metropolitan governance, about real estate development and finance, about housing and the lack of it, about the emergence and perhaps the eventual debilitation of cities and suburbs alike. Incorporating the thinking of visionary city planners and land use economists, the author presents a lucid primer on the economics of land, its development and usage, and on how things actually get done in the real estate industry.

part I|26 pages

Introduction

part II|27 pages

Setting the Scene

chapter 3|6 pages

Generations of Babbitts and Ebenezers

chapter 4|7 pages

Some Historical Themes and Sensibilities

chapter 5|7 pages

Public Lands and the Native Population

chapter 6|5 pages

Visions of the Twenty-first Century

part III|29 pages

Notes on Suburbanization

part IV|97 pages

The Record: 1900–2000

chapter 10|20 pages

Restructuring America

1930 Through World War II

chapter 11|19 pages

Restructuring Continued

The Fractious Postwar Period

chapter 12|26 pages

Destructuring America, 1968–2000

part V|29 pages

Looking Onward

chapter 13|13 pages

The Metropolitan System in Gear

chapter 14|14 pages

Remaking America in the Twenty-first Century