Planning the New Suburbia
224 pages, 9 x 8
120 b&w illustrations, 53 b&w photos
Paperback
Release Date:01 May 2002
ISBN:9780774808590
Hardcover
Release Date:15 Nov 2001
ISBN:9780774808583
PDF
Release Date:01 Nov 2007
ISBN:9780774850131
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Planning the New Suburbia

Flexibility by Design

UBC Press

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.

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
Avi Friedman is an associate professor in the School of Architecture and director of the Affordable Homes Program at McGill University. He has won numerous awards including the World Habitat Award (United Nations), the Creative Achievement Award (Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture), and the Prix J.-Armand Bombardier (Association canadienne-francaise pour l'avancement des sciences) for his Grow Home and Next Home innovations.

Preface

Acknowledgments

1 Reformers and Regulators

2 The Evolution of the Suburban Ideal

3 Designing Flexible Outgrowth: Precedent Models

4 Planning for Change within Existing Communities

5 Planning for Change of New Communities

6 Planning for Change of New Communities in Old Neighbourhoods

7 A Look to the Future

Bibliography

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