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(More customer reviews)Co-director of the Metropolitan Institute Robert E. Lang and former deputy director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech Jennifer B. LeFurgy present Boomburbs: The Rise of America's Accidental Cities, the amazing true story of how America's suburbs have swelled to sudden big-city size, transforming the face of the nation. Dubbed "accidental cities", not because they lack planning, but because they are composed of communities that have grown into one another even though few anticipated as much happening, these boomburbs lack the large downtown areas of other cities, and aren't as pedestrian-friendly as most other suburbs. Nor are they necessarily rich or elitist; poverty is all too common in boomburb single-home families. A meticulously researched and study written in terms accessible to lay readers and scholars alike.
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A glance at a list of America's fastest growing "cities" reveals quite a surprise: most are really overgrown suburbs. Places such as Anaheim, California, Coral Springs, Florida, Naperville, Illinois, North Las Vegas, Nevada, and Plano, Texas, have swelled to big-city size with few people really noticing--including many of their ten million residents. These "boomburbs" are large, rapidly growing, incorporated communities of more than 100,000 residents that are not the biggest city in their region. Here, Robert E. Lang and Jennifer B. LeFurgy explain who lives in them, what they look like, how they are governed, and why their rise calls into question the definition of urban.
Located in over twenty-five major metro areas throughout the United States, numerous boomburbs have doubled, tripled, even quadrupled in size between census reports. Some are now more populated than traditional big cities. The population of the biggest boomburb-Mesa, Arizona-recently surpassed that of Minneapolis and Miami.
Typically large and sprawling, boomburbs are "accidental cities," but not because they lack planning. Many are made up of master-planned communities that have grown into one another. Few anticipated becoming big cities and unintentionally arrived at their status. Although boomburbs possess elements found in cities such as housing, retailing, offices, and entertainment, they lack large downtowns. But they can contain high-profile industries and entertainment venues: the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Arizona Cardinals are among over a dozen major-league sports teams who play in the boomburbs.
Urban in fact but not in feel, these drive-by cities of highways, office parks, and shopping malls are much more horizontally built and less pedestrian friendly than most older suburbs. And, contrary to common perceptions of suburbia, they are not rich and elitist. Poverty is often seen in boomburb communities of small single-family homes, neighborhoods
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