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Event
Dead End: Suburban Sprawl and the Rebirth of American Urbanism
AIA|LA, APA-LA and ULI-LA present:
"Dead End: Suburban Sprawl and the Rebirth of American Urbanism"
A brown-bag discussion with activist, scholar, and author Benjamin Ross
Tuesday, April 29
12-1 PM
Los Angeles City Hall, Room 1035
200 N. Spring Street (public entrance on Main Street)
Los Angeles, CA 90012
FREE, LIMITED CAPACITY
Bring your own lunch. Ride Metro.
Join scholar, author and activist Benjamin Ross for a brown-bag discussion of his new book "Dead End" (Oxford University Press), which traces how the ideal of a safe, green, orderly retreat where hardworking members of the middle class could raise their children away from the city mutated into the McMansion- and strip mall-ridden suburbs of today. Ross finds that sprawl is much more than bad architecture and sloppy planning; its roots are historical, sociological and economic. Ross uses these insights to lay out a practical strategy for change, honed by his experience leading the largest grass-roots mass transit advocacy organization in the United States. The problems of smart growth, sustainability, transportation and affordable housing, he argues, are intertwined and must be solved as a whole. The two keys to creating better places to live are expansion of rail transit and a more genuinely democratic oversight of land use. "Dead End" is, ultimately, about the places where we live our lives. Both an engaging history of suburbia and an invaluable guide for today's urbanists, it will serve as a primer for anyone interested in how Americans actually live.
"Ben Ross' 'Dead End' is a highly personal account of a larger journey that we are embarked on as a nationfrom sprawl to walkable communities, from anoxic, sterile neighborhoods to vibrant, transit-served urban areas that are the wellspring of innovation, economic development and cultural richness" -John Porcari, Former Deputy Secretary, United States Department of Transportation
"Ben Ross paints the big picture of the battle between sprawl and community from the historic perspective, to the current conflicts to a vision of a better land use process. Always focused on the human perspective with subjects as diverse as Jane Jacobs and Pete Seeger to Snob Zoning and Agenda 21, Dead End is an exciting, easy read" -Parris N. Glendening, President, Smart Growth America's Leadership Institute, and Governor of Maryland (1995-2003)
"This impressively researched and documented history explains the huge pressures for maintaining a status quo that supports sprawl and is unfriendly to walkable cities. Ross argues convincingly that rail transit is 'the political and mental key that opens the door to urban change'" -Ross Capon, President & CEO, National Association of Railroad Passengers
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LocationLos Angeles City Hall, Room 1035 (View)
200 N. Spring St. (public entrance on Main Street)
Los Angeles, CA 90012
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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