Cohousing-L Mailing List: Book to Note

[John Gear (catalyst]

I just finished reading a new book that I think many people on this list
would enjoy greatly.  (I am scheduled to interview the author tomorrow for a
local community radio station (KBOO, Portland OR) and hope to have time to
ask him about cohousing.)

Anyway, the book is "A Better Place to Live--Reclaiming the American Suburb"
by Philip Langdon (Harper Perennial Press, ISBN 0-06-097661-6, $14 softbound).

He covers much of the same territory as James Howard Kuntsler's "The
Geography of Nowhere"--in fact though, Langdon neither mentions this *great*
book nor even cites Kuntsler, even in the recommended reading ... strange.
Perhaps they're fueding--I find it difficult to believe that they can be
oblivious to each other since the books are *so* similarly aimed.

Better Place to Live is a very readable run-down of the ills of suburbia
and, unlike Kuntsler's book, has pictures!  These help a lot for those of us
who aren't as up to speed on architectural terms.

I have some criticisms of the book as well, particularly on his limp
prescriptions (for example, in dealing with developers he is reduced to
recommending that the trade magazines for builders be not-quite-so adoring
about everything that comes down the pipe) but I will ask him about those.

I particularly want to ask him about what he suggests given the rise of the
so-called property rights movement--the anti-planning/anti-zoning movement
that dominates in many western states.  

(Washington is in a struggle to fight off an initiative presented to the
legislators as a result of $200,000 donations from builders and realtors
that would essentially require the state to pay for any "taking," including
decreased property value, resulting from regulations--now, can you imagine
trying to create livable towns in that environment?  It's not clear if we
can even have zoning, much less force builders to think of pedestrians or
low-income folks.)

I think every cohousing group would enjoy reading A Better Place to Live in
a study circle--not only for pleasure but also for the good short course in
the principles of humane design. 
John Gear (catalyst [at] pacifier.com)

The Bill of Rights--The Original Contract with America
Accept no substitutes.  Beware of imitations.  Insist on the genuine articles.