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Sprawl: A Compact History | 
 enlarge | Author: Robert Bruegmann
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
Category: Book
List Price: $17.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 46051
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 306
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.1 x 0.7
ISBN: 0226076911
Dewey Decimal Number: 307.76
EAN: 9780226076911
ASIN: 0226076911
Publication Date: November 1, 2006
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Product Description
As anyone who has flown into Los Angeles at dusk or Houston at midday knows, urban areas today defy traditional notions of what a city is. Our old definitions of urban, suburban, and rural fail to capture the complexity of these vast regions with their superhighways, subdivisions, industrial areas, office parks, and resort areas pushing far out into the countryside. Detractors call it sprawl and assert that it is economically inefficient, socially inequitable, environmentally irresponsible, and aesthetically ugly. Robert Bruegmann calls it a logical consequence of economic growth and the democratization of society, with benefits that urban planners have failed to recognize.
In his incisive history of the expanded city, Bruegmann overturns every assumption we have about sprawl. Taking a long view of urban development, he demonstrates that sprawl is neither recent nor particularly American but as old as cities themselves, just as characteristic of ancient Rome and eighteenth-century Paris as it is of Atlanta or Los Angeles. Nor is sprawl the disaster claimed by many contemporary observers. Although sprawl, like any settlement pattern, has undoubtedly produced problems that must be addressed, it has also provided millions of people with the kinds of mobility, privacy, and choice that were once the exclusive prerogatives of the rich and powerful.
The first major book to strip urban sprawl of its pejorative connotations, Sprawl offers a completely new vision of the city and its growth. Bruegmann leads readers to the powerful conclusion that "in its immense complexity and constant change, the city-whether dense and concentrated at its core, looser and more sprawling in suburbia, or in the vast tracts of exurban penumbra that extend dozens, even hundreds, of miles-is the grandest and most marvelous work of mankind."
“Largely missing from this debate [over sprawl] has been a sound and reasoned history of this pattern of living. With Robert Bruegmann’s Sprawl: A Compact History, we now have one. What a pleasure it is: well-written, accessible and eager to challenge the current cant about sprawl.”—Joel Kotkin, The Wall Street Journal
“There are scores of books offering ‘solutions’ to sprawl. Their authors would do well to read this book.”—Witold Rybczynski, Slate
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| Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...
 A snoozer for me... August 11, 2008
I put the book aside about 25% of the way through -- a very rare thing for me. It struck me as tedious, repetitive and kind of self-evident. I found myself wondering when I'd get to something compelling, but my interest waned before that happened.
 Rationalizing sprawl and rejecting progressive thought May 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Anyone who embraces a progressive stance towards urban development is likely to strongly disagree with the fundamental premise of this book. Bruegmann claims that sprawl is inevitable and changing policy will do little to truly curb suburban development over time. As societies become more affluent, people demand more space and move away from a city's core. Whether a city's population density is high or low, it will ultimately reach an equilibrium point that humans tend to prefer. While Bruegmann's arguments are strong and well supported, fundamentally the problem with his interpretation of sprawl is it's too broad. He considers any development outside of a city to be sprawl -- loosely based on population density. Development outside of Houston is considered the same as that outside of Paris or Portland.
Bruegmann discusses at length several cities natural inclinations towards sprawl. London serves as the historical archetype that failed to stop sprawl despite various development restrictions through the centuries. Portland, Oregon is the modern day archetype, which Bruegmann also claims has failed in its efforts to curb sprawl. Portland's urban growth ring has driven sprawl to smaller surrounding communities and across state lines into Washington state.
This book is well written and the author is relatively straightforward in his dialog. The author claims he takes a neutral stance on debated issues in urban development, but to anyone who is familiar with Jane Jacobs or new urbanism, Bruegmann could easily be construed as being pro-sprawl. Bruegmann spends little time questioning the sustainability of sprawl -- and his book predates the recent spikes in oil prices, which alone would bring into question his reasoning. That said, I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in urban studies. It's great to see someone articulate points that counter conventionally accepted progressive thinking in the field.
scratching the surface at best February 21, 2007
5 out of 9 found this review helpful
i have to credit the author for a good job in laying out the arguments with excellent footnotes and bibliography. the historic portion also provides some refreshing perspectives.
unfortunately, except being successful in presenting sprawl as a complex subject, the arguments are unconvincing and seem contrived at times, though the author tries to present the case impartially.
the premise of the book can be summarized simply as: sprawl is there since immortal time. we have sprawl because people in affluent societies want it. and the anti-sprawl crowd overstate its problems while ignoring its benefits.
well, i found myself scatching my head most of the time. sometimes i couldn't even tell whether the author is pro or anti-sprawl. the author fails to show that although sprawl exists since industrial era, the current sprawl is a product of forces vastly different from previous eras. first of all, the demography of modern societies has very different composition. nowadays suburbia growth is fed by not only affluent middle-class but also increasingly immigrants. in fact, the author at times suggest a trend that the affluent are actually moving back to the city core. secondly, we're in a post-industrial time when the public policies play a significant role in encouraging sprawl which is not the case in early sprawl.
one important thing we should note is that the scale of current sprawl. although sprawl has been around for a long time, it has never reached such a scale that it might simply become sustainable. in this sense, the author fails to address the issue of sustainability. if the author's predictions are correct and all societies want to live like Americans do, then i am pretty pessimistic about our future. like cells in our bodies, it's normal that they grow and split, but when they overgrow they become tumors. the author never establishes that line when un-controlled sprawl becomes a problem.
the argument that people with free will always choose low-density and car-dependent way of living is built on weak foundation too. children in our society, brainwashed with all these TV ads, will most likely choose junk food instead of organic food if they are allowed to choose freely. is that free will? does this make obesity a natural, inevitable and even good thing? there are so many reasons why people choose to live in suburbia but just because it's a collective effort does not make it a good thing. to a certain extent, the book feels incomplete because it does not have any clear moral stand.
similarly, people who think they exercise free will might not notice how their decision-making is manipulated. if they know the true cost of living in the suburb, and with all the subsidies to suburbian development removed (cheap products from developing countries; cheap and subsidized oil and etc.), they might suddenly realize living in the sprawl might not be the best option for them in the long term. the sad thing is, with the whole system in favor of sprawl and growth, people sometimes just don't have alternate options.
it's a nice attempt to present a different view, but after reading the whole book, i think the author actually does a good job convincing me that sprawl is more a problem with issues that need to be addressed urgently.
 Excellent Urban History and Sociology January 9, 2007
1 out of 6 found this review helpful
Even Queen Elizabeth I (in the 1600s) was against sprawl, but the author
shows that without a doubt all cities have been growing (sprawling) ever
since as populations concentrate in fewer and fewer areas. The history of
anti-sprawl movements is detailed and the author shows that current
anti-sprawl movements use the same vocabulary and even words that were
used 100 + years ago to describe what is now fashionable areas of London
held up a models of good growth today (but not then). Both Europe and the
United States have remarkably similar urban growth patterns. This is
excellent history, sociology and urban studies material.
Weak arguments January 9, 2007
5 out of 10 found this review helpful
I actually agreed with Bruegmann's thesis more before I read this book than afterwards. He's married to his one definition of sprawl, and since this conveniently lists Los Angeles as the least sprawled city, he can then use this as a blunt weapon to pooh-pooh any criticism of sprawl. He also notes that sprawl has been a force throughout the history of cities, but then fails to show how the issues people have with sprawl may have evolved over the years. Even when he mentions arguments in support of sprawl, I felt underwhelmed because they're just references to other papers; he doesn't present us with many numbers or analysis from these other papers. That being said, I agree with his basic premise --- that criticism to sprawl is overblown, and that most people prefer to own their own house and their own car. But I was looking for more solid arguments to support that, and this book did not provide them.
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