Despite a modest revival in city living, Americans are spreading out more than ever — into "exurbs" and "boomburbs" miles from anywhere, in big houses in big subdivisions. We cling to the notion of safer neighborhoods and better schools, but what we get, argues Anthony Flint, is long commutes, crushing gas prices and higher taxes — and a landscape of strip malls and office parks badly in need of a makeover.

This Land tells the untold story of development in America — how the landscape is shaped by a furious clash of political, economic and cultural forces. It is the story of burgeoning anti-sprawl movement, a 1960s-style revolution of New Urbanism, smart growth, and green building. And it is the story of landowners fighting back on the basis of property rights, with free-market libertarians, homebuilders, road pavers, financial institutions, and even the lawn-care industry right alongside them.

The subdivisions and extra-wide roadways are encroaching into the wetlands of Florida, ranchlands in Texas, and the desert outside Phoenix and Las Vegas. But with up to 120 million more people in the country by 2050, will the spread-out pattern cave in on itself? Could Americans embrace a new approach to development if it made sense for them?

A veteran journalist who covered planning, development, and housing for the Boston Globe for sixteen years and a visiting scholar in 2005 at the Harvard Design School, Flint reveals some surprising truths about the future and how we live in This Land.

A Boston Globe journalist traces the history of the anti-sprawl New Urbanism movement, its catalysts, and backlash to "smart growth." He argues that increased urban density would be a more attractive option if people better understood the value of walking daily, buying locally, and building green in light of rising populations and gas prices. Flint promotes such credos for sensible growth as abolishing traditional zoning and letting builders develop--but only in areas that are already built up.
Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

A Boston Globe journalist traces the history of the anti-sprawl New Urbanism movement, its catalysts, and backlash to "smart growth." He argues that increased urban density would be a more attractive option if people better understood the value of walking daily, buying locally, and building green in light of rising populations and gas prices. Flint promotes such credos for sensible growth as abolishing traditional zoning and letting builders develop--but only in areas that are already built up. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

"Engaging, vivid and provocative work. Written with analytical rigor but also a crafty journalistic eye for the human-interest story that crystallizes an abstract theme, this book merits inclusion in any library." Library Journal

"With evidence growing regarding the impact of density on innovation and economic growth, Anthony Flint's excellent This Land couldn't come along at a better time. It's an essential read for those working to understand and build more vibrant and livable communities." Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class and The Flight of the Creative Class

"A revealing portrait of how America lives today. His trenchant chronicling of the emerging smart growth movement's challenge to the suburban sprawl ethos is a clarion call for a national conversation about how the country should grow." Ben Bradlee Jr., author and former Deputy Managing Editor of the Boston Globe

"Among the hundreds of books about metropolitan growth, This Land stands out as an extremely engaging and perceptive chronicle of the current state of the smart growth and new urbanist movements. Highlighting the fundamental American tension between individual and collective purposes, Flint compellingly articulates the challenges ahead." Ann Forsyth, Director, Metropolitan Design Center

"This important book is spot-on in its analysis of America's deepening land use problems and refreshingly upbeat in its account of win-win solutions arising around the country. Flint's fingertip knowledge of detail is especially to be admired." E. O. Wilson, Pellegrino University Professor Emeritus at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University

This Land tells the untold story of development in America — how the landscape is shaped by a furious clash of political, economic and cultural forces. It is the story of burgeoning anti-sprawl movement, a 1960s-style revolution of New Urbanism, smart growth and green building. And it is the story of landowners fighting back on the basis of property rights, with free-market libertarians, homebuilders, road pavers, financial institutions and even the lawn-care industry right alongside them. Rising fuel costs and tedious commutes are making some Americans rethink sprawl, while others are embracing it more than ever, in "exurban" subdivisions in Florida, Texas and California, and all around Phoenix and Las Vegas and Boise, Idaho. But with up to 120 million more people in the country by 2050, will the spread-out pattern cave in on itself? Anthony Flint, for 16 years a reporter with the Boston Globe and a visiting scholar in 2005 at the Harvard Design School, reveals some surprising truths about the future and how we live in This Land.

Anthony Flint has been a journalist for twenty years, primarily for the Boston Globe, covering transportation, land use, planning and development, smart growth, and sprawl. His articles have also appeared in the Boston Sunday Globe Magazine, Planning, and Landscape Architecture.