Paradise Planned

As malls are abandoned and mortgages are foreclosed, the retrofitting of the suburbs is a central issue in urban planning today. New strategies are emerging -- creating walkable communities with social and retail centers -- that hark back to the original concept of the suburb. These bucolic settings, first developed in the mid-nineteenth century, offered an ideal lifestyle outside the city but accessible by streetcar, train, and ultimately automobile. The Garden City movement originated in England, was quickly adopted in the United States and northern Europe, and gradually proliferated throughout the world. ParadisePlanned is a comprehensive, encyclopedic record of this development, a vital contribution to architectural history but also an essential resource in urban planning today.