FORTHCOMING: Metroburbia, USA
By Paul Knox
Due out in September 2008, Metroburbia, USA offers a reinterpretation of the history of metropolitan form; explores the interdependence of demand- and supply-side factors in the production of the contemporary residential fabric of metropolitan America; and points to the social and cultural significance of the outcome as moral landscapes. These perspectives are brought together by weaving data, anecdote, and analysis within an overall framework that is informed by contemporary social theory.
Boomburbs: The Rise of America's Accidental Cities
 A glance at a list of America's fastest growing "cities" reveals quite a surprise: most are really overgrown suburbs. Places such as Anaheim, California, Coral Springs, Florida, Naperville, Illinois, North Las Vegas, Nevada, and Plano, Texas, have swelled to big-city size with few people really noticing—including many of their ten million residents. These "boomburbs" are large, rapidly growing, incorporated communities of more than 100,000 residents that are not the biggest city in their region. Here, Robert E. Lang and Jennifer B. LeFurgy explain who lives in them, what they look like, how they are governed, and why their rise calls into question the definition of urban.
Located in over twenty-five major metro areas throughout the United States, numerous boomburbs have doubled, tripled, even quadrupled in size between census reports. Some are now more populated than traditional big cities. The population of the biggest boomburb-Mesa, Arizona-recently surpassed that of Minneapolis and Miami.
Boomburbs are a quintessential American landscape, embodying much of the nation's complexity, expansiveness, and ambiguity. This fascinating look at the often contradictory world of boomburbs examines why America's suburbs are thriving and how they are shaping the lives of millions of residents.
Redefining Urban & Suburban America: Volume III
The results from Census 2000 continue to disclose remarkable population trends in the nation’s cities and suburbs during the last decade of the twentieth century. They confirm that American metropolitan areas lie at the heart of the nation’s most pronounced demographic and economic changes.
The first volume in the Redefining Urban and Suburban America series focused on population growth and decline and dramatic changes occurring in the racial and ethnic makeup of cities and suburbs.
The second volume made clear that regional differences add texture to migration, income and poverty, and housing trends in the nation’s largest cities and metropolitan areas.
This third volume in the series describes anew the changing shape of metropolitan America and the consequences for policies in areas such as employment, public services, and urban revitalization.
Redefining Urban & Suburban America: Volume II
 Results from Census 2000 reveal striking changes in the nation’s cities and suburbs during the 1990s. Thanks to a decade of strong economic growth, concentrated poverty in the inner cities declined dramatically, homeownership rose among young minority household, and workers from abroad settled in growing metropolitan areas that had experienced little immigration to date.
The first volume in the Redefining Urban and Suburban America series focused on population growth and decline and dramatic changes occurring in the racial and ethnic makeup of cities and suburbs.
This second volume focuses on an even richer set of subjects from Census 2000 and makes clear that regional differences add texture to these broader social and economic trends. Using data from the Census “long form,” the contributors probe migration, income and poverty, and housing trends in the nation’s largest cities and metropolitan areas.
Urbanization: An Introduction to Urban Geography
 This coherent, comprehensive introduction offers an historical and process-oriented approach to urban geography. From a global perspective, the authors examine the changing and developing geographies of U.S. cities – along with the interdependent processes that bring about Urbanization throughout the nation.
World City Network: A Global Urban Analysis
 Globalization describes a situation in which important social relations are becoming worldwide, transcending national boundaries. But how are these transnational flows and connections organized if not through countries? The most common answer to this question considers cities to be the organizational "hubs" of globalization. " World City Network" interprets cities as global service centers. With the advent of multinational corporations, the traditional urban service function has "gone global". In order to provide services to globalizing corporate clients, the offices of major financial and business service firms across the world have formed a network. It is the myriad flows between office towers in different metropolitan centers that have produced the world city network. Through an analysis of the intra-company flows of 100 leading global service firms across 315 cities, this book assesses cities in terms of their overall network connectivity, their connectivity by service sector, and their connectivity by world region. Peter Taylor provides a comprehensive and systematic description and analysis of the world city network as the "skeleton" upon which contemporary globalization has been built. The analyses challenge the traditional view of the world as a "mosaic map" of political boundaries.
Edgeless Cities
 Many people in the Smart Growth movement seek, among other goals, to build higher density, mixed-use suburbs, and often view maturing "edge cities," as coined by Joel Garreau, as a potentially hopeful future. This new book examines the growth and spatial structure of office space in 13 of the nation's largest markets and reveals, however, that the predominant metropolitan form remains one of decentralization and sprawl. Instead of dense, edge cities, the suburban landscape is more often dotted with ubiquitous "edgeless cities," which consist of mostly isolated office buildings constructed at varying densities over vast swaths of urban space. They are not mixed use, pedestrian friendly or easily accessed by public transit. But Robert Lang argues that the edgeless city is here to stay, requiring policy makers and practitioners to understand its elusive pattern and contemplate its potential environmental, social, and economic impacts on our communities.
Redefining Urban and Suburban America, Evidence from Census 2000
The early returns from Census 2000 data show that the United States continued to undergo dynamic changes in the 1990s, with cities and suburbs providing the locus of most of the volatility. Metropolitan areas are growing more diverse—especially with the influx of new immigrants—the population is aging, and the make-up of households is shifting. Singles and empty-nesters now surpass families with children in many suburbs.
Redefining Urban and Suburban America explores these demographic trends and their complexities, along with their implications for the policies and politics shaping metropolitan America . The shifts discussed here have significant influence in demand for housing and schools, childcare and healthcare, as well as private goods and services.
Toward a New Metropolis: The Opportunity To Rebuild America
by Arthur C Nelson
Dr. Nelson's paper for the Brookings Institution explores projected changes in demographic, household, and market trends and how they will impact our nation's built environment—that is, how many new homes, office buildings, and other physical structures will need to be built to accommodate future growth.
The Philadelphia metropolitan region is growing in a very elusive, sprawling way
Philadelphia is second only to Miami in the percentage of office space found in low density, dispersed office parks on the urban fringe. The Philadelphia region is an example of an "Edgeless City." This article is taken from Robert Lang’s Brookings Press book published in 2003.
Is the United States Undersupplying Housing?
Robert E. Lang, Housing Facts and Findings, Fannie Mae Foundation. The fact that builders did not oversupply new housing during the 1990s' economic boom is a good news/bad news story.
"Monster Houses? Yes! No!" from Planning magazine
Robert Lang and Karen Danielsen argue that big infill houses make economic sense. Mark Hinshaw thinks building monster homes is socially irresponsible.
World City Network Formation in a Space of Flows
Funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) in 2000-01, this research is the first comprehensive attempt to define and describe the world city network. The main output is a large data set covering 100 business service firms in 316 cities.
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