Truly comprehensive in scope - and arranged in A-Z format for quick access - this eight-volume set is a one-source reference for anyone researching the historical and contemporary details of more than 170 major issues confronting American society. Entries cover the full range of hotly contested social issues - including economic, scientific, environmental, criminal, legal, security, health, and media topics. Each entry discusses the historical origins of the problem or debate; past means used to deal with the issue; the current controversy surrounding the issue from all perspectives; and the near-term and future implications for society. In addition, each entry includes a chronology, a bibliography, and a directory of Internet resources for further research as well as primary documents and statistical tables highlighting the debates.

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

This monograph presents papers from the 2000 Mayors' Institute on City Design and the public forum that followed it. Essays include: "Schools for Cities: Urban Strategies" (Sharon Haar); "Reenvisioning Schools; The Mayors' Questions" (Leah Ray); "Why Johnny Can't Walk to School" (Constance E. Beaumont); "Lessons from the Chicago Public Schools Design Competition" (Cindy S. Moelis and Beth Valukas); "Something from Ǹothing': Information Infrastructure in School Design" (Sheila Kennedy); "An Architect's Primer for Community Interaction" (Julie Eizenberg); "The City of Learning: Schools as Agents for Urban Revitalization" (Roy Strickland); and "Education and the Urban Landscape: Illinois Institute of Technology" (Peter Lindsay Schaudt). Case Studies include: "Prototypes and Paratypes: Future Studies" (Sharon Haar); "Lick-Wilmerding High School, San Francisco" (Pfau Architecture Ltd.); "Architecture of Adjustment, New York City' (kOnyk Architecture); "Booker T. Washington School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Dallas" (Allied Works Architecture Inc.); "Camino Nuevo Middle School, Los Angeles" (Daley, Genik Architects); "Elementary School Prototypes, Chicago Public Schools" (OWP/P Architects). (Contains 31 bibliographic references.) (SM).

Provides a working definition of sprawl and its associated costs, then provides historical discussion, dating back to the early 1920s when zoning acts were initially developed, and to the 1950s when the term sprawl entered the planning literature. It also systematically presents the literature on sprawl in chapters that focus on the following major areas of impact: public/private capital and operating costs; transportation and travel costs; land/natural habitat preservation; quality of life; and social issues. Finally, the report presents annotations of studies, organized in chapters that focus on the same five major impact areas as Section II.

A lively and provocative history of the contested landscapes where the majority of Americans now live. From rustic cottages reached by steamboat to big box stores at the exit ramps of eight-lane highways, Dolores Hayden defines seven eras of suburban development since 1820. An urban historian and architect, she portrays housewives and politicians as well as designers and builders making the decisions that have generated America’s diverse suburbs. Residents have sought home, nature, and community in suburbia. Developers have cherished different dreams, seeking profit from economies of scale and increased suburban densities, while lobbying local and federal government to reduce the risk of real estate speculation. Encompassing environmental controversies as well as the complexities of race, gender, and class, Hayden’s fascinating account will forever alter how we think about the communities we build and inhabit.