“In the great postwar building boom, developers froze on a pattern that used five acres to do the work of one. They had to, or they thought they had to. For one thing, it was a well-known fact that Americans had a deep psychic urge for a free-standing homestead on a large country plot, or as close a replica as possible. The assumption was self-proving, for it was built into the standards of the Federal Housing Administration and the major lending institutions. If a developer wanted mortgage money, he hewed to these standards or he did not get it.”

William H. Whyte, The Last Landscape (via titularhumour)

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the creation of the subdivision is a disaster to the environment. as urban sprawl happens, the question becomes more prevalent… why build an area where the people only live, but must commute for a long time to get to work, etc.. The typical family relies ever so much on their cars, and there is not as much neighbourhood interaction anymore. We should be building cities that actually have multiple purposes, not just housing.

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Retrofitting Suburbia

kristiankelley:

Ellen Dunham Jones speaks of major retrofitting to improve the financial and social sustainability of suburbia.  This is an inspiring video however I tend to believe in small suburban retrofits like connecting streets, allowing business and multifamily in single family residential buildings, using our unused landscape and providing walkways off of arterials.  If we do these small things first we set the foundation for the more exciting suburban-urban environments Jones speaks of.

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