Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 The Landscape of Housing: Suburbia, New Urbanism, and McMansions
- 2 The Landscape of Health Care: High Tech and Humanistic
- 3 The Landscape of Schools: Big Schools, Small Schools
- 4 The Landscape of Work: Visible or Virtual?
- 5 The Landscape of Retail: Big Box and Main Street
- Closing Comments
- Index
Closing Comments
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 The Landscape of Housing: Suburbia, New Urbanism, and McMansions
- 2 The Landscape of Health Care: High Tech and Humanistic
- 3 The Landscape of Schools: Big Schools, Small Schools
- 4 The Landscape of Work: Visible or Virtual?
- 5 The Landscape of Retail: Big Box and Main Street
- Closing Comments
- Index
Summary
In a sense, there are two layers described in this book. One layer is our collective outer self, as defined by the buildings we construct. The other layer is our collective inner self, on some level related to these physical manifestations. America is vast, and in the 20th century we developed our transportation infrastructure to suit the automobile. To a great extent the highway system that supports the individual car is a product of incentives from the federal government. We drive; by and large we do not take the train or the bus, and we definitely don't walk. This is not “new” news; it is just not good news. In this book, data are presented that suggest that in many instances our bigger is better mentality has failed us. In the United States there are problems in commuting and lack of community, in educational achievement, in health (specifically obesity), in work–family balance, and in the malling of America.
Although this book focuses on buildings, beneath the bricks and mortar is a sense that Americans crave something they think they have lost, and they aren't sure how to retrieve it. What they seem to have lost is a sense of togetherness, and perhaps a sense of safety that comes from that connection. The absolute size of our nation has something to do with this loss, as does the infrastructure of roads and highways, and the creation of suburbia.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- What Americans Build and WhyPsychological Perspectives, pp. 281 - 284Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010