The Story of Sprawl — Now on DVD
May 4th, 2009By Sara Wolfson
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| Clips available on Planetizen’s site. Watch them there. |
The way our communities have been developed for more than half a century — houses separated from schools separated from businesses separated from nearly everything else you need — didn’t just happen by accident. Though it’s been the status quo of development for more than 50 years, many of us have no idea how it happened — that is, how our communities and cities became so sprawling and spread out.
Planetizen, a top source for news and commentary on urban planning, recently released The Story of Sprawl, “an unprecedented visual document of how sprawl happened.” This 2-disc documentary is a compilation of historic films, from Lewis Mumford’s 1939 film The City to 1965’s No Time For Ugliness. With this documentary, you can watch the story unfold through the eyes of historical figures, accompanied by prominent leaders in planning and development.
“As I assembled these videos, I realized that they told the story of modern American development in a way I’d never seen before,” said producer Tim Halbur, Planetizen’s Managing Editor. “We’re given the basic narrative in planning school, but watching these historic films and listening to the commentary brings the story to life.”
Each video also includes commentary from modern planners and authors to guide you through the significance of the film. These experts include, but are not limited to:
- Prof. Robert Cervero, UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design
- Andrés Duany, DPZ Associates
- Anthony Flint, author of This Land: The Battle Over Sprawl and The Future of America.
- Jacquelyne Grimshaw, The Center for Neighborhood Technology
- James Howard Kunstler, author of The Geography of Nowhere
- Prof. Jackie Leavitt, UCLA’s Dept. of Urban Planning.
- Prof. Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, UCLA’s Dept. of Urban Planning.
- John Norquist, President of the Congress for New Urbanism.
- Neal Peirce, Citistates Group.
- Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, DPZ Associates.
You can learn more, watch a clip and purchase the DVD here on Planetizen’s website.
May 20th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
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