Postsuburban California: The Transformation of Orange County since World War II

by Rob Kling, Spencer C. Olin, Mark Poster

Neither a city nor a traditional suburb, Orange County, California represents a striking example of a new kind of social formation. This multidisciplinary volume offers a cogent case study of the "postsuburban" phenomenon.

344 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Wayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made." is a fitting response to the development of Orange County, California from the postwar 1950's to the present. The birth of suburbia in America was evidenced by the huge demand for housing after ten years of near stand still construction during the Great Depression and the further delays in new home construction during the five years of WWII. The rate of transformation development from fruit and vegetable farms to housing, light industry, retail and entertainment uses occurred so rapidly there was little thought given to regional planning. Instead, major land owners competed for political and economic dominance in political and economic influence.
The book is more devoted to a rather dry report on the political struggles between competing factions than the new successful concept of Planned Community Development. It's a factual history if you can endure the dry historical text.

[Liam · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We label this 'new city' a postsuburban spatial formation because it evolves from the spatial organization of a low-density suburban region. ... It is organized around many distinct, specialized centers rather than a traditional city center surrounded by residential and industrial areas. A visitor who is used to traditional cities with central downtowns to house city halls, museums, churches, and major businesses may be bewildered by Orange County's spatial layout." (6)

[Patrick]

I hear the editor Spencer Olin of UC Irvine speak at Casa Romantica in San Clemente in early 2006...didn't get too much insight from that talk as to why Orange County has developed the way it has...hopefully this book has more insight...