The End of the Suburbs: Where the American Dream Is Moving

by (Journalist) Leigh Gallagher

“The government in the past created one American Dream at the expense of almost all the dream of a house, a lawn, a picket fence, two children, and a car. But there is no single American Dream anymore.”For nearly 70 years, the suburbs were as American as apple pie. As the middle class ballooned and single-family homes and cars became more affordable, we flocked to pre-fabricated communities in the suburbs, a place where open air and solitude offered a retreat from our dense, polluted cities. Before long, success became synonymous with a private home in a bedroom community complete with a yard, a two-car garage and a commute to the office, and subdivisions quickly blanketed our landscape.But in recent years things have started to change. An epic housing crisis revealed existing problems with this unique pattern of development, while the steady pull of long-simmering economic, societal and demographic forces has culminated in a Perfect Storm that has led to a profound shift in the way we desire to live.In The End of the Suburbs journalist Leigh Gallagher traces the rise and fall of American suburbia from the stately railroad suburbs that sprung up outside American cities in the 19th and early 20th centuries to current-day sprawling exurbs where residents spend as much as four hours each day commuting. Along the way she shows why suburbia was unsustainable from the start and explores the hundreds of new, alternative communities that are springing up around the country and promise to reshape our way of life for the better.Not all suburbs are going to vanish, of course, but Gallagher’s research and reporting show the trends are undeniable. Consider some of the forces at The nuclear family is no Our marriage and birth rates are steadily declining, while the single-person households are on the rise. Thus, the good schools and family-friendly lifestyle the suburbs promised are increasingly unnecessary.We want out of our cars: As the price of oil continues to rise, the hours long commutes forced on us by sprawl have become unaffordable for many. Meanwhile, today’s younger generation has expressed a perplexing indifference toward cars and driving. Both shifts have fueled demand for denser, pedestrian-friendly communities.Cities are booming. Once abandoned by the wealthy, cities are experiencing a renaissance, especially among younger generations and families with young children. At the same time, suburbs across the country have had to confront never-before-seen rates of poverty and crime.Blending powerful data with vivid on the ground reporting, Gallagher introduces us to a fascinating cast of characters, including the charismatic leader of the anti-sprawl movement; a mild-mannered Minnesotan who quit his job to convince the world that the suburbs are a financial Ponzi scheme; and the disaffected residents of suburbia, like the teacher whose punishing commute entailed leaving home at 4 a.m. and sleeping under her desk in her classroom.Along the way, she explains why understanding the shifts taking place is imperative to any discussion about the future of our housing landscape and of our society itself—and why that future will bring us stronger, healthier, happier and more diverse communities for everyone.

Genres: Nonfiction, Urban Planning, Sociology, Politics, Economics, History, Urbanism

273 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 27, 2013

Reviews

[Sherrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book, perhaps (probably?) because I agree with so many of its premises. I'd like to see sprawl come to an end in the way that the author describes. And yet....She skips lightly over a number of topics that impact people living in cities, the most important one to me being schools. Public education in almost every major city in the country is a mess, and the good and/or private schools either cost a lot or are bursting at the seams. I got the feeling Ms. Gallagher felt that the schools would improve as people moved; schools are something that need to be in place BEFORE people move. I live in Michigan, close to the cities of Detroit, Flint and Saginaw, all of which have been ravaged by the events Ms. Gallagher describes in her book. (Detroit has declared bankruptcy since this book was published, and I'd like to know how that might change her viewpoint) There are actually parts of Detroit that measure up to her descriptions, particularly in the Wayne State University area (a new Whole Foods!) but there is so much more to do. As to Flint and Saginaw, "The End of the Suburbs" fails to address the problems of mid-sized cities that have fallen upon hard times. I don't see any corporations moving their headquarters to these cities, or any renovations of downtowns, or frankly anything at all except large, shuttered auto plants and a lot of empty houses. It's going to take a lot more than a new grocery store to bring these cities, and others like them, back, and this book is noticeably silent on that.

[Alvin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm sorry to give this book only two stars for fear that GoodReads won't recommend similar topics.

But although I like to read and listen to Leigh Gallagher (on NPR), I think this book is more suited to be an in-depth magazine feature article than a book.

I say that because the factual data on demographic and residential preference changes are presented well and she includes the public policy decisions that fostered suburban growth. She covers the mortgage interest tax deduction, single-use zoning, subsidies for auotmobiles and petroleum. All very informative and used to build a case for what I will paraphrase as "The greatest misallocation of resources in economic history."

But Gallagher goes a little too deeply into what is called, "New Urbanism" and she appears to be a cheerleader for the movement. And while I think that changes in the way we develop our residential areas are needed, she should remain dispassionate and analytical, rather than showing favoritism as she does here. For example in describing several new urban developments which include walkable areas, mixed-use, etc. she spends too much ink on what is good about them including subjective declarations like "cool bookstores" or "poetry readings" available in these neighborhoods.

What if I don't like poetry? And what makes a bookstore "cool"?

Describing these developments as including front porches and not back porches, and moving them closer to the street so as to encourage sociability is an interesting observation. But she cannot seem to hold back her preference for sociability among neighbors when she should simply make the observation.

One thing I don't understand about GoodReads is how the recommendations are made. Is it simply based on subject area? Or on positive/negative reviews of books in a particular subject?

I ask because I enjoy books on the history of social phenomena like suburbs but I think this one could have been pared down to about 100 pages, if the author's preferences and favoritism were omitted.

I hope GoodReads doesn't take my two-star review and fail to recommend similar books on the topic. I'm always willing to give something a try.

[Lyra · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are a number of interesting ideas, and the sections regarding the history of the suburbs and the "New Urbanist" movement seem to be solid, but this book is so problematic. The logical holes drain coherency from the overall argument.

It's hard to buy the author's assertion that the suburbs are coming to an end at face value. This is not to say the book has no value. It would be good for a group discussion to see how having a predetermined conclusion shapes evidence selection, data manipulation and what research an author seeks out to support the idea.

The so-called "overwhelming" truth also covers up actual facts. Baseball stadiums put me over the edge in terms of accepting data presentation. On the "countless" stadiums built since the year 1990, all were "built in the urban core." First off, here are less than 30 baseball teams and the Cubs, for instance, still play in the same stadium. The implied context for this urban revival suggests all these teams moved from the suburbs. I don't know all the teams that moved to a new stadium during this time period, but a number of these stadiums were built within walking distance of the old one. The Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds come to mind. This one small point illustrated to me how much manipulation occurred. If nothing else, Gallagher understands the principles of persuasive writing and how to stretch material that could make several well written and engaging stand alone articles into a lengthy book.

[Gerald Kinro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gallagher sees a trend, a reverse of what went on during the 1950s and 60s. During those years, fueled by ads, the media and mobility, Americans moved to suburbia to find their American dream. Now we find that many are weary of the commutes to work, play and all else. Many old-timers and those just starting out, are seeking relief and moving to more densely populated multiple family dwellings that are closer to work and play.

Gallagher has a crisp, tight writing style that is easy to follow and a pleasure to read. She offers data on the phenomenon of relocation going on. She cites several examples of successful urban communities with interviews of residents. That is where I run into trouble. While I do not dispute the phenomenon or the advantages of high-density urban living, it is not perfect. Her interviewees were carefully selected to support her thesis, too few of them with negative opinions of urban living. Some years back, I worked in the construction industry, and many of my projects were exactly what she described, a sleep upstairs work/play downstairs arrangement. Many have gone on and become huge successes. Others have failed miserably and share the same problems of troubled high-density communities--drugs, prostitution, and other crimes. A lot depends on management, commitment of the residents, and the local authorities to make something like this work. Still, this is a good read but should be done with an open mind.

[Mike Horton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the best book I have read on this subject, but definitely not the worst either. Gallagher seems to have trouble not being an investigative reporter when she's trying to present research on a very relevant topic. She hammers away with an exorbitant amount of examples when making a point, as if adding another, then another, example will further ground her argument. (Here's a hint: over-analysis destroys wholes, and too many examples dilutes and weakens a strong viewpoint.) The result of too many examples was that, in several places, this book dragged and became tiresome to read, and I'm a huge nerd (and fan) of the topic. Journalistic exposes don't always positively contribute to academic topics, and this is an example of that.

Gallagher also could benefit from a strong editor who understands proper grammar. There were times in the book when the elements of style seemed suspended. It made her writing look poor.

There are definitely better books out there on this subject.

[Yvonne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this, and I have to say it gets an extra star for the thorough footnotes.

[Jay French · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seems like I’ve read a lot of these kinds of books, of the genre I will label “pop-urban planning”. Most all have taken a thesis and provided convincing arguments that their thesis is correct. This is of the kind, and takes the popular pro-urbanization tact. In this case, pro-urbanization is anti-suburb, at least in the title and most of the rhetoric. Yet the author also includes anecdotes that describe possible paths forward for those suburbs, including high-density faux urban centers. I’m seeing that in the suburb I live in, with highrise mixed use developments replacing the empty one-story retail centers within 2 blocks of our commuter train station. The dream is a suburban lifestyle without required car ownership, and that seems possible in many places with mixtures of commercial and residential land uses -- just like the big city. I dislike this book’s title, because that is not the entire story revealed in the book. Suburbs aren’t ending, but are, and will continue to be, reconceptualized and rebuilt to meet the changing needs of the population. I found this a good book to bring up some of the issues and the opportunities in suburban development, with good anecdotes illustrating the authors investigations. The answer I saw here wasn’t just flight back to city center, but rebuilding a “change-urb”.

[Desiree · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

A good sociological study! The author covers how we live, touching a bit on ancient times and continuing on into possible future outcomes! This is not a book all about how and why we got to this point in our development, per se. It mostly covers the ramifications and current trends of how and where we live!

The fact that it is not laid out in a linear fashion makes it more readable and more accessible to the average reader. Thankfully, it is not laid out like a textbook, but rather a meandering study, enjoyable like a Sunday drive! Some of it is a bit repetitious, as the author returns back to the people and subjects that she previously touched upon.

I did learn a lot from this wonderful book! Changes in zoning laws are mostly to blame for the changes to our landscape, as were the redlining policies of lenders. Also, there were numerous other governmental policies, such at the highway act, that precipitated much of our sprawl!

The future seemingly belongs to our cities, and any look around will verify that! Most of the construction I see going on around me, is in fact, in the cities!

Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in how we live!

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh... Nothing new here - lots of better books on the topic of cities. This is not a study but one person's opinions about other studies. I got the sense that the author asked a few people rather than truly doing some study.

And the writing is... dramatic. A paragraph may begin with "20 years ago" this happened and this is the result, only to finish with "things will never be the same" kind of commentary. Yep, things change - as proven by the previous sentences - but sometimes that change is sloooow, and sometimes something new comes from the old. Hyperbole is rampant here, so what's the point? Is this meant to scare people into leaving the suburbs or to keep them from leaving?

[Frieda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suburban sprawl has been researched and talked about for many years. What began as the answer to densely populated city life, has now become equally dense in major metropolitan areas like NY. Nassau County, where I grew up, is now incredibly populated and the traffic can be abominable at random times of the day or week. I don't think it is so much the design of suburbs that have created a breakdown in community spirit as so much that there are so many more people living here and we've learned to live in a bubble so to speak. While there are plenty of job opportunities in the county, many people opt for the commute into the city because the pay is better. And everyone knows that living in NY is not cheap and the cost of living will continue to rise.

I appreciated this book and what Ms. Gallagher was trying to convey. There are many factors that have made life more stressful for most people but singling out living in the suburbs isn't the only one. The ideas behind the New Urbanism movement have potential where design will bring people and amenities more closer together, leaving us less dependent upon driving. Living and working in Brooklyn has greatly reduced my need for my car. If suburbs improve their public transportation systems and create safer roads, I could see an improvement in the quality of life while living in there. The trick is to convince people to give up their love of cars and the convenience that it gives them.

[Ewan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the book not with an eye to urban planning or federal housing policy, but rather as part of a broader reflection about the kind of place I personally want to live.

I grew up in brownstone Brooklyn, the pinnacle of mixed-use walkability that Gallagher exalts. My instinctual view of the “suburbs” - that of post-war sprawl - has always been negative, an offense to taste and character. But those suburbs seem like a soft target. I would not live in such a place.

The reality is that the term “Suburb” encompasses Levittown, NY, Greenwich, CT, and everything in between. And the “nicer” suburbs, particularly those with stock of 19th century houses built up around commuter lines, continue to represent an attractive alternative.

Gallagher throws out the baby with the bath water. Single family houses, set back from the street, with driveways and lawns, is the American way. Such can be (and is) accomplished with character and sense of place in historic towns across the Northeast.

[SpogNYC · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the book and agree with what's written, however, it's the stuff that wasn't written that earned it only 3 stars from me. Maybe because it's such a complex topic with many facets that the author didn't expand more on it for fear of the book expanding to an absurd page count, but the absence of speaking on the topic of gentrification really disappointed me and made her book sound like a free and breezy and a utopian feeling of cities reemergence rather than touching on how long-term lower and lower middle-class residents of city have been and currently face hardship, displacement, and harrassment to vacate urban neighborhoods due to wealthy upper-middle to upper-class folks moving back to the urban core after realizing how awful the suburbs are. Biased and ranty review by me? Maybe so. Expressing an accurate observation about this otherwise good book? You daaammmn right.

[Austin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, so this book is a little old now, but I just came across it. Most of the other reviews are correct- this book is 20% academic literature and 80% tabloid material. The author conveyed an interesting story that still holds true in 2020. The American housing landscape is changing. Yes, some instances of causation were misrepresented by data correlations. Yes, the author has a clear bias toward urban development (even though she tries to caveat her persuasive opinions). However, I still really enjoyed the book. I disagree that the suburbs are “ending.” I do agree that the suburbs are certainly changing. As with all literature- take it was a grain of salt.

[Anastasia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an older book since it was published in 2013 with the information available at that time. Until the last year I would have agreed that cities and cottage country were the highest real estate markets. Now it is more debatable.
Are business going to continue with the work from home trend started, or speed up, by Covid-19? If it does then compact Suburbs with large green space, room for home offices and class space may be the way of our housing future. Less driving to work makes these places more affordable.
Time will tell of course.

[Hillary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this 2012 book from the perspective of 2017, parts of it are outdated predictions about the post-recession economy. However, other parts--like the gentrification and urbanization of suburban communities--are accurately foretold, and it's an interesting study in how the suburbs were shaped and how we cast visions for what they might become--for better or worse. It deserves an updating, but it's a good introduction to the economic and city-planning dynamics that shape suburban lives.

[Hasan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though the book was written in 2013 and is a wee bit dated, the trends have continued. Traditional suburban communities aren't growing and being created at the race they were 20 years ago. Instead, we're seeing more choices to fit the lifestyles and choices of Americans in the inner ring burbs. More walking and biking friendly and potentially largely gentrified areas. It's a good short read.

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book while a bit dated was interesting. Being written in 2013 it is prep pandemic and the surge of work from home opportunities and the flight out of the cities again. It does help to understand how we wound up with reduced housing starts and the mismatch in desired locations post Great Recession. Would love to see a follow up book on the period of 2012-2025 and the shift that occurred.

[J. J.]

Fun, stimulating read as I reflect on these past three or four years living in the suburbs for the first time in my life. A good introduction to some of the more mainstream artifacts of New Urbanism as well.

[Lucas Fernandez-Rocha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting subject. I’m guessing this was an article she was planning on writing, but over researched and decided to make it a book. Probably should have kept it as an article, because half the book is anecdotal or filler cliches.

[Casey Willits · Rating 3 out of 5]

It feels like a regurgitation of much of the more academic and location specific writing about this topic. But reading it this many years after publication probably contributes to that feeling. The lamentation of a glut of housing feels very weird after experiencing 2021.

[Lucy Eisgruber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this and Gallagher makes salient points - average ratings because findings and points are not groundbreaking but good research and layout

[Steven Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review: The End of the Suburbs by Leigh Gallagher

In The End of the Suburbs: Where the American Dream is Moving by Leigh Gallagher makes the argument that the suburban mode of development reached its peak in the 1990s and 2000s and we it has begun its decline as the monolithic form of the built environment. As Gallagher makes clear in her conclusion, the suburbs aren't really over. With millions of homes built in the suburban style and millions of Americans still enamoured with the vision of a big house on a piece of land it will likely always remain. However, the author argues, alternative modes of living are becoming more dominant and reflect a sea change.

Many of the economic and social factors that created the suburbs are in decline or in reverse. It's probably fair to say that we are in the third (maybe fourth?) generation of the suburbs. The logic that created the first few versions of the suburbs have broken down. The initial suburbs were directly alongside the central city. The inner ring of suburbs that developed next were often serviced with public transit and were dense and walkable. However for the second, third, and fourth generation of suburbs prospective homebuyers were driven further into former agricultural areas along freeways. It seems though that the suburban experiment in the 1990s began to reach a point of diminishing returns. Commutes got longer and longer and prices kept climbing. Gallagher writes that many point to the mortgage crisis and high gas prices for killing suburbs, but the truth is that urban property values began to climb again (after decades of decline) in the 1980s.

The cars that promised liberty were transforming into prisons as millions of North Americans trapped themselves for hours a day grinding their ways between work and home. The demographic explosion that justified the suburbs, the Baby Boom, is much diminished. Birth rates have cratered. There is far less need for properties for kids to play in with many bedrooms when fewer people are coupling and having children.

The End of the Suburbs reads like a very long article as it is written in an accessible, casual way, which makes sense given that the author is a journalist. The author conducts interviews that demonstrate many of the failings of suburban life, and contrasts them with people proposing, building or living alternatives. A number of big developers appear in the book, which gives a clear example of how the market is transforming on the demand and supply sides.

There is a slim undercurrent in the book that suggests what is emerging is suburban-like cities and city-like suburbs. I had similar thinking looking at some of the 'new hip' neighbourhoods of Toronto, like Liberty Village. All the chains and wealth of the suburbs have been poured into condominiums and boutiques offering faux-authentic brick even though it's the same chain from the strip mall in the 'burbs.

I think Gallagher does a convincing job laying out the case that the unending sprawl is going to slow down, if not come to an end. But, what will take its place isn't the past but some hybrid of urban and suburban living. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in the future of the suburbs and the housing market. It is entirely accessible to a lay audience but sophisticated enough for people well versed in the subject.

You can follow me on Twitter @SLee_OT or at my blog at http://theorangetory.blogspot.ca/ for similar content.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book took me awhile to finish but I'm glad I did. I never knew what kind of spate was happening between city dwellers and suburbanites and I'm glad I now know the little feud that has been going on. I read this, not so much to take sides, but to learn how the new structures that city and suburbs are experiencing. I viewed everything through the lens of rural and urban development.

I wanted to understand why there was a shift happening between the two regions and what some of those causes were. I actually enjoy the feeling of being able to walk everywhere and get to places quickly instead of sitting in my car hoping to find a parking space that is not to far from the entrance of where I am going. The only concern I have to such places that offer everything within walking distance is that more and more people will want the same experience and rather than sitting in my car complaining about the traffic, I will be pushing against people trying to get where I'm going because there are just too many people out and about.

The author talks about the shifting trend towards more younger people wanting to live in communities within major cities that offer the niceties of suburb living that is close to their job and amenities, like movie theater, stores, cafes, and bookstores (if they will still be around). Then you have the older generation who has stayed in their suburban homes because that is where they raised their families and moving is just too much of a hassle to have to deal with and instead they would rather spend their nights dancing, playing bingo, and meeting up at the community event center for the whole area.

I will say though that this book has given me a few great ideas on how to fix neighborhoods that are falling apart, and how to improve communities that were once a thriving hive of activity with kids and families. Many suburbs are falling to crime and drugs simply because more and more homes are being deserted, either because of the housing crash or people want to live in communities that offer more things to do.

If you are looking to learn about all the different movements there are for creating and designing these little picture perfect communities this book has a great list of resources for finding out the latest design in community planning. Now when I walk into any neighborhood I can tell what type of design was used and probably pinpoint it back to the date of when the community was built. So whether you think living in a neighborhood like the one in Edward Scissorhands was cool, or you need something more than just a community pool and event center than you might want to look into a New Urbanist community where sidewalks and roadways are carefully measured to ensure optimal socializing.

Either way, check out this book if you have the time or need to learn about anything city planning, housing market related or just why people are leaving in general. I enjoyed it and took away a lot of great resources to check out and to stay updated with.

[MDVinAO · Rating 3 out of 5]

Numerous arguments made by the author about why the suburbs is dying out, only one of which, I believe holds validity, the others are heavily skewed to the author’s opinion and I don’t like how she does not entertain the “other side” of the argument. Urbanism has many cons too. The only argument which I believe has validity is that suburban life forces extensive commuting - which costs time and money and is bad for the environment.

However, besides the saving of time, if one moves close to work and their work is in a high demand urban area, I would argue that time BUT NOT money is saved unless that person had enough money to buy a house in a more expensive urban area. Most people however, can not afford a house in a city and end up in a condo or apartment with maintenance fees. So, goodbye to the cost of car expenses but say hello to condo fees that start off lower in newer buildings and then gradually climb up to staggering monthly fees. Although I don’t know how U.S. condo fees are regulated or how comparable they are to Canada (this book is American), I do know that these condo fees can trap you, no differently than the suburbs can. Some older buildings have fees up to $800 to $900 a month - much more than the cost of a car - which imposes stress just the same. These fees also do NOT cover the cost of utilities, tv or property tax, they only cover the cost of whatever common recreation areas the building says it has to offer, and the maintenance of the outside grounds and common areas of the building. This high monthly cost in my opinion does not warrant whatever the bells and whistles the condo says it has to offer - the gym, the pool - especially when a membership at a very nearby fitness facility that I can walk to would cost me less than that per year. In my opinion, a monthly maintenance fee is a perpetual, never-ending mortgage. So how much better is that then the endless, costly commute?

Also, the author one-sidedly argues that living in the city is more communal and diverse. While I do agree that cities offer more diversity in family make-up and lifestyle (single, married with/without kids), I do not agree that there is as much diversity culturally, as certain cultures still “pocket” into areas of a city and you can still feel just as marginalized in a city as you can in the suburb.

I did not like how the book presented this new and improved - urban development as being devoid of its poisons. She mentions glass buildings with positive, spirited fervour. There are glass condo complexes in Toronto, Canada - downtown somewhere by Lake Ontario, now falling apart, chipping away and depreciating, causing a class action lawsuit for people who moved into these buildings and have lost a lot of their property value. This story was covered by CBC Radio Canada about a year or so ago.

I personally think that commuting from the suburbs into work is a big poison, but moving back into the city has its many poisons too. It’s just a matter of what poison you personally want to pick.

[Brady Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

From my review on NextCity:

Fortune editor Leigh Gallagher’s new book, The End of the Suburbs: Where the American Dream Is Moving, documents a shift in demand away from traditional suburban housing — big lots, car dependent, farther and farther from the city where most of the breadwinners in a given region work — and toward urban housing. Or at least something that looks a little more like it.

While giving room to those who are sticking to the suburbs, including newer suburbs that don’t look at all like the old ones, Gallagher documents the public policies that made suburbia possible, the financial underpinnings that have gotten many municipalities into trouble and why, right now, the combination of slowly retiring boomers and slow-to-launch millennials is making it harder than usual to see trend lines.

Still, her new book recounts a number of striking observations that support her point. Some of the more noteworthy follow:

As the Housing Boom grew fully frenetic, right up to 2006, the average incomes of Americans basically stayed flat. In other words, we demanded more housing without any more money to demand it with (Chapter 2).

Scott Bernstein, president of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, has estimated that American families are spending nearly half their income on housing and transportation combined, especially in areas where people commute a long way to work (Chapter 3). It is much worse for poorer families.

Serial Internet entrepreneur Graham Hill intends to open apartment buildings that reinvent space maximization, including a lending “library” for stuff like popcorn poppers and ice chests (Chapter 4).

Frequently, families cite schools as their number-one reason for moving to the suburbs, but as demand for exurban communities dries up, schools have been repurposed. In Durand, Mich., an old high school is now an apartment building for seniors (Chapter 5).

Read the rest of my review here.

[Kcthinker · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are people who living as, "Real Life Urbanist," who are ignored by the big decision makers of the urban core planners.

Gallagher's term, "New Ubanist," was used as a marketing tool, throughout the.

Some real life ubranist would like to limit the community space to 2-5 miles to have all their lifestyle needs take care like, banking, gyms, coffee shop, jobs, church, movie theaters, etc....

A lot of these real life urbanist would move in downtown locations if the price was right.
No one explains what kind of jobs are paying over $4000.00 a month in order to live within Dave Ramsey's budget of paying $1000 - $1500 a month rent.

Gallagher never addressed how there is a population of social wack packers, as you would hear on Howard Stern's radio show, who live downtown communities. The wack packers maybe fun entertainment when they are not so close to you, but when they are low quality neighbors and free loading off of the pleasant environment, the entrainment looses it's savor.

Gallagher does like to talk numbers like a political guru. Her numbers may be right. The numbers were like an infomercial. Beware, if you do their plan you may not get the same results.

Gallagher did not disclose how tax implement financing (TIF) has manipulated the cosmetics of most of the urban land escapes. (This how Detroit were bankrupted) There are cities who are letting business abuse them without paying taxes, as they sell the, "Sex in City," dream.

Yuppies (young urban professionals), was the code word in the 1980s for developing urban areas.

Today, they are called millennial are the new yuppies.

Gallagher avoids saying were are going to market, an old package and we are going to scare you into joining this trend by brainwashing you to believe, if you do not do this you will miss out.

Most people are tired of marketers selling trends and using community money for their speculations. If it is such good idea do it yourself without government help.

In reflection, this book was ok, it was too much like scam-way.... Oops, I mean Am-Way. The book sings to the dreamers who are wanting to get rich while using other people's money. Are they people who were responsible for economic down falls addressed in chapter 2? I think so.

[Sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coming from a country where suburbia is mostly a lot of boring apartment buildings nestled on the side of highways leading to cities, I was always fascinated and curious about the American Suburbs, especially in the more subversive versions from Blue Velvet and The Truman Show. I became even more fascinated when I moved to the U.S., where to my surprise a big house in the suburbs and having to drive 15 minutes for a carton of milk was still not just something desirable, it was the very synonym of earning your place in the American pantheon of successful adulthood.

There have been several books lately about suburbs giving way to cities but this one seemed accessible enough to start. And it is. The author is a managing editor at money magazine and the book does flow kind of like a long magazine article. There is a lot of fascinating stuff here, primarily on why suburbia became the way they are and how they turned into the standard habitation and lifestyle model.

The author spends a lot of time covering new dwelling alternatives, like the super fancy NYC family apartment building with a pool, a yoga studio and a fire pit, and new suburban developments where houses are built closer together and land is zoned for mixed use so you can walk to stores. She also shows why urban planners and home builders are jumping on these alternatives, but does't offer much in terms of confirmation that these are indeed the future and the suburban houses will be left to rot when the elderly residents are no longer there. Though they definitely sound nice I suppose it's just too early to evaluate the success of walkable suburbs (houses there are generally more expensive) and it remains to be seen if when more millennials who don't make a billion bucks a year start having children the majority will grudgingly move out to the suburbs or find a way to manage with less space and without a car in the city.

Evidently the book ends with a lot of open questions but it's a great primer on the subject and maybe in ten years there can be a follow up.

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

I agree with others who say that this book would be better suited as a long-form magazine piece. Obviously Gallagher has taken tremendous effort to research the subject, conduct interviews, and visit communities, but the whole thing was presented rather haphazardly. She went off track on New Urbanism, which while relevant, is hardly the only solution or a topic she should have spent 1/3 of the book breathlessly promoting. Criticism of New Urbanism (or any aspect of ending suburbia as it exists) was scant. Correlation does not imply causation. Data was presented frequently but inexactly, and often seemed to be cherry picked to support the argument or was not the sort of thing (it was the lowest year in the last three years!) that really illustrates a trend. Moreover, her constant bashing of Millennials (older people who gave up driving were visionary, but when she was 16 she loved getting her drivers license and she just really, really can't get why any 16 year old wouldn't have themselves physically grafted to a car before blowing out the candles on their cake). The final straw for me was my growing realization that she had made no effort to understand , or taken no consideration, anything other than very rich, socially mobile, highly educated people and their living preferences. If she had presented a book about that, fine, but we're all not retired CEOs who can just pick up and move to a trendy Boston neighborhood because one day we're sad that no one else on our cul-de-sac sits at home all day waiting for a neighbor to knock on the door with an invitation to day drink and discuss the latest issue of Vogue.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to write a paper on this exact topic while I was in school but I didn't end up doing it because it was too broad and too new. I know many young adults who do not own cars and absolutely hate the suburbs. This is a new and major shift not seen since the mass production of the car itself. Mayors and city councillors across North America should seriously take note.

I'm glad such a book covering this emerging, often talked-about topic in planning now exists. However, as someone fairly familiar with most of the popular books and news stories on urban planning issues, I can't say that a lot of the broad trends mentioned in this book were new to me. Like others have said, this book was a bit too short and could have perhaps been better off as a long magazine article. The book length was also probably determined by the fact that this is a very new topic and emerging issue.

The author basically says that suburbs have pros and cons and she can understand why many people will still choose the suburbs. I wished she would have touched on the sociological aspects of child raising a bit more. In my opinion, suburbs are really driven by what parents perceive is best for young children but when these kids reach their early teens these suburbs become the most boring place on earth.

While someone very familiar with urban planning issues might not find this book to be groundbreaking, it was by all means still an enjoyable and worthwhile read.

[Nikki Boisture · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a fair amount of books on suburban sprawl,(many of them mentioned in this book) but this is the first that I've read since the housing market bust of'08. The news from the sprawl front is good. People are realizing they need to leave the exurbs and shorten their commutes and live in communities over housing developments.

This book made the problems of suburbia clear and concise - relying heavily on data over the emotional aspects of what makes suburban/exurban sprawl so awful. It's easy to give this book a high rating, because I grew up in the exurbs and I'd promised myself I'd live somewhere that 1-I didn't have to get in the car to buy a gallon of milk, 2-that had good diversity at my kids' schools, and 3-is close to public transit. That I read a book that basically says a lot of other people are coming to this conclusion made me very happy.

Anyone else who maybe doesn't like the suburbs, but can't exactly say why, would do well to read this. Traffic, taxes, construction, community involvement, neighbors helping neighbors, diversity, oil prices - all of these and more are covered. Her conclusion is absolutely correct to. That the suburbs exist for a reason - because consumers demanded them. But the way we do suburbia is changing. Everyone doesn't need to pick up and move to a city, but the types of suburbs we demand needs to change.