The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream

摘要

Prof. Leinberger has produced an entertaining account of new forms of mixed-use urban development in the United States. This he refers to as 'walkable urbanism', as opposed to the 'drivable sub-urbanism' of most of the post-war period. To clarify the distinction, Leinberger offers the example of Hill Valley in the film Back to the Future, where the comfortable, pleasant and viable town centre of 1955 morphs into an asphalt parking lot by 1985, surrounded by struggling secondary retail enterprises and populated by down and outs and ne'er-do-wells. Indeed, a great deal of asphalt has been laid down in the United States and other countries since 1949!