Rating: 
Summary: A facsinating book written by a pompous...
Review: This might well become the bible of New Urbanism - the notion that planners should imitate turn-of-the-century townscapes, with their high densities, mixed uses, and streets designed with the pedestrian in mind. Lengthy case studies describe success stories of New Urbanism: Seaside (Fla.), Boca Raton (Fla.), Memphis, Columbus, Providence, Corning, and Kentlands (Md.). There are also stories of where it failed due to local opposition: Lagana West (Cal.), Mashpee (Mass.), Chatham (NY), Homestead (Fla.), and Brooklyn. Oddly, there are almost no illustrations of these projects - a glaring flaw in an otherwise brilliant book. Page after page describes innovative planning initiatives in enormous detail, where the material cries out for a photo or diagram.Kunstler has a tendency to wander: There's a chapter about an organic farmer, a chapter about African-American history culminating in the author's recommendation that many black kids should be put in orphanages (huh?), and two chapters that are essentially autobiographical. Also, the occasional use of words like "crudscape" adds spark to his writing, but Kunstler sometimes gets carried away by his own emotions. The author's description of a zoning dispute in his hometown of Saratoga Springs is so venomous and vulgar that he hurts only his own credibility. Kunstler should keep in mind that not everyone who opposes the New Urbanism is "evil" (his overused adjective), but rather are responding to the fact that people do like malls, large house lots, and travelling short distances by car, however harmful these preferences might be to the larger fabric of our metropolitan areas.
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