Sprawl, Justice, and Citizenship: The Civic Costs of the American Way of LifeMust the strip mall and the eight-lane highway define 21st century American life? That is a central question posed by critics of suburban and exurban living in America. Yet despite the ubiquity of the critique, it never sticks-Americans by the scores of millions have willingly moved into sprawling developments over the past few decades. Americans find many of the more substantial criticisms of sprawl easy to ignore because they often come across as snobbish in tone. Yet as Thad Williamson explains, sprawl does create real, measurable social problems. Utilizing a landmark 30,000-person survey, he shows that sprawl fosters civic disengagement, accentuates inequality, and negatively impacts the environment. Yet, while he highlights the deleterious effects of sprawl on civic life in America, he is also evenhanded. He does not dismiss the pastoral, homeowning ideal that is at the root of sprawl, and is sympathetic to the vast numbers of Americans who very clearly prefer it. Sprawl, Justice, and Citizenship is not only be the most comprehensive work in print on the subject, it will be the first to offer an empirically rigorous critique of the most popular form of living in America today. |
Contents
3 | |
Defining Explaining and Measuring Sprawl | 23 |
Counting Costs and Benefits Is Sprawl Efficient? | 57 |
Do People Like Sprawl and So What If They Do? | 85 |
Is Sprawl Fair? Liberal Egalitarianism and Sprawl | 110 |
Liberal Egalitarianism in a CuldeSac? Sprawl Liberal Virtue and Social Solidarity | 151 |
Sprawl Civic Virtue and the Political Economy of Citizenship | 179 |
You Cant March on a Strip Mall Sprawl and Political Disengagement | 217 |
Sprawl the Environment and Climate Change | 249 |
Reforming Sprawl and Beyond | 266 |
Appendixes | 286 |
Notes | 317 |
373 | |
393 | |
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Sprawl, Justice, and Citizenship: The Civic Costs of the American Way of Life Thad Williamson No preview available - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
activity African American aimed analysis argues argument Asian American associate’s degree associated with sprawl automobile Average Commutes benefits built environment census tract central city residence citizens civic republicans claim conception contemporary controls cost–benefit costs critical critique debate Democracy democratic density driving dummy variables ecological economic effect egalitarian engagement exclusionary Hispanic homeownership households housing human income individual inequalities interest Justice as Fairness land liberal egalitarians liberty live logistic regression low-density measures Median metropolitan areas moral neighborhood age Neighborhoods built normative one’s particular patterns percent persons places political participation population density possible predictor proportion public space question racial Rawls Rawls’s Rawlsian reason reform regime region regression relationship requires residential respondents rural sample SCCBS significant simply Social Capital society spatial specific sprawl-related variables substantial suburban residents suburban sprawl suburbia suburbs Theory of Justice tion trust U.S. Census United urban utilitarian virtues