Sprawl is the nightmare of the urban planner manifested after decades of poor planning in the United States. We have lost control of the places that we inhabit and struggle to find a renewed sense of community. Douglas Morris, author of It's a Sprawl World After All acknowledges this loss of community, and examines the many facets of what sprawl has taken away from United States society. Rather than dwelling on the history of sprawl or wasting time with laying blame, Morris launches directly into an examination of the problems that sprawl is associated with and how we can fix them.

Morris presents a very compelling argument regarding the reasons urban sprawl is an undesirable force in our land development patterns. He moves beyond traditional arguments relating to increased infrastructure costs and increased environmental degradation and explains how sprawl affects us at a social level. The information presented links sprawl to a plethora of negative externalities including increased crime rates, incivility, and distance in personal relationships. He reinforces the argument that sprawl is inhibiting our ability to function as social creatures.

Instead of simply advocating that we raze our sprawling cities and start over again with vibrant downtowns and small villages, Morris offers solutions relating to how we can cope with sprawl. It's a Sprawl World After All removes our ability to become complacent victims of sprawl and places the impetus on us to become champions for better communities. Morris presents an empowering view of the problem that allows us to move forward in reality rather than aimlessly hoping that sprawl will vanish.

From an institutional perspective, It's a Sprawl World After All also offers a variety of suggestions on how we can prevent further sprawl. These suggestions move beyond draconian changes to land development regulations and instead propose a more holistic set of changes that would cause us to re-envision the way we live. The appendix summarizes the changes that helped to encourage sprawl in the first place and allows the reader to understand how those changes might be reversed in order to inspire livable communities.

This book is an excellent read for anyone interested in urban planning and community development because it combines the work of professional urban planners with the actions of citizens and illustrates how combined efforts can yield the types of robust communities that we desire to live in. ( )