Planning the New Suburbia

An important book on a subject that is home to the majority of North American citizens ... Friedman's concept for the flexible suburb is an important contribution to the fields of urban planning, community design, and real estate development. -- David Gordon, School of Urban and Regional Planning, Queen's University

Everybody sneers at the suburb, but two-thirds of us now live there. Friedman's book shows how we might make the suburb liveable, affordable, adaptable and environmentally sustainable -- make them into real neighbourhoods.

The suburbs house two-thirds of North America’s population and are the subject of much debate and criticism. Planning the New Suburbia, by Avi Friedman, explores this phenomenon and proposes ways to respond to the challenge of creating affordable, adaptable, and environmentally sustainable neighbourhoods. An architect and planner, Friedman suggests new methods of design and regulation that would enable urban planners to conceive and inhabitants to adapt suburban communities and homes to their evolving needs, as a result of changing family size, an aging population, or new working conditions.

Friedman surveys the evolution of urban planning, the history of “ideal” communities, the development of North American suburbs, and the theory behind flexible suburban design. Three case studies offer practical examples of his approach, and all are generously illustrated with drawings, plans, and photographs to demonstrate Friedman's ideas in action. Rather than dismissing a suburb as an unattractive, impersonal sprawl, Friedman shows how they can be modified into an affordable, sustainable, and adaptable community.