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The Regional City: Planning for the End of Sprawl

Peter Calthorpe & William Fulton

Most Americans today do not live in discrete cities and towns, but rather in an aggregation of cities and suburbs that forms one basic economic, multi-cultural, environmental and civic entity. These "regional cities" have the potential to significantly improve the quality of our lives-to provide interconnected and diverse economic centers, transportation choices, and a variety of human-scale communities. In The Regional City, two of the most innovative thinkers in the field of land use planning and design offer a detailed look at this new metropolitan form and explain how regional-scale planning and design can help direct growth wisely and reverse current trends in land use.

The authors:

  • discuss the nature and underpinnings of this new metropolitan form
  • present their view of the policies and physical design principles required for metropolitan areas to transform themselves into regional cities
  • document the combination of physical design and social and economic policies that are being used across the country
  • consider the main factors that are shaping metropolitan regions today, including the maturation of sprawling suburbs and the renewal of urban neighborhoods

Featuring full-color graphics and in-depth case studies, The Regional City offers a thorough examination of the concept of regional planning along with examples of successful initiatives from around the country. It will be must reading for planners, architects, landscape architects, local officials, real estate developers, community development professionals, and for students in architecture, urban planning, and policy.

“This is an important book that arrives at a powerful conclusion: older neighborhoods and newer suburbs all share a common, regional destiny.  The challenges of affordable housing, concentrated poverty, aging inner-ring suburbs and underachieving schools must be addressed regionally if our cities are to thrive in the new global economy.” 
-Andrew Cuomo

“Calthorpe and Fulton paint a vivid picture of metropolitan regions bound together by common destiny and strengthened by common purpose.  They recognize that both sustainable development and broadened economic opportunity are elements vital to the future economics and social well being of our communities.”   
-Phil Angelides