Young Involved Phila Reading Group: Sprawl

Posted by on March 12, 2007

YOUNG INVOLVED PHILADELPHIA
READING GROUP: Robert Bruegmann’s Sprawl: A Compact History
Monday, April 30th, 6:15-8:00 pm
Brew Haha! (212 S. 12th Street – 12th and Locust)

What’s so bad about the suburbs? Perhaps the urban hipsters who condemn them as socially- isolating, culturally-homogenous, environmental wastelands are just narrow-minded snobs? Perhaps they are jealous?

Robert Bruegmann argues in Sprawl: A Compact History that the suburbs are part of a healthy, growing metropolis, and represent the ideal living space for most people around the world. His arguments and his book have been the battle-flag of many pro-suburban planners.

A challenge to this controversial argument can be found in the Brookings Institution report, Back to Prosperity, which argues that Pennsylvanians should invest in older and urban communities rather than pay the hidden costs of sprawl. It can be found online at http://www.brookings.edu/es/urban/pa/executivesummary.pdf.

Join other civic-minded young folks to discuss these two points of view, and to hash out the value and cost of the suburbs in the warm embrace of an urban, independent coffee shop.

Joseph Fox Booksellers, 1724 Sansom Street, will be offering a 10% discount to
YIP members on Sprawl.

It’s cold outside: stay in and read. But just in case you can’t, you should
know that discussion will focus on the introduction, and chapters 1, 10, and 13.

Please RSVP for this event by contacting [email protected].