Table Of ContentSSPPRRAAWWLLIINNGG CITIES
AND OUR
ENDANGERED
PUBLIC HEALTH
S T E P H E N _ V E R D E R B E R
SPRAWLING CITIES AND OUR
ENDANGERED PUBLIC HEALTH
Sprawl is an unsustainable pattern of growth that threatens to undermine the health of communities
globally. It has been a dominant mid-to-late 20th century growth pattern in developed countries and
in the 21st century has shown widespread signs of proliferation in India, China, and other growing
countries. The World Health Organization cites sprawl for its serious adverse public health conse-
quences for humans and ecological habitats. The many adverse impacts of sprawl on the health of
individuals, communities, and biological ecosystems are well documented. Architects have been
rightly criticised for failing to grasp the aesthetic and functional challenge to create buildings and
places that mitigate sprawl while simultaneously promoting healthier, active lifestyles in neighbour-
hoods and communities.
Sprawling Cities and Our Endangered Public Health examines the past and present role of architecture
in relation to the public health consequences of unmitigated sprawl and the ways in which it threatens
our future. Topics examined include the role of 20th century theories of architecture and urbanism
and their public health ramifi cations, examples of current unsustainable practices, design considera-
tions for the creation of health-promoting architecture and landscape urbanism, a critique of recent
case studies of sustainable alternatives to unchecked sprawl, and prognostications for the future.
Architects, public health professionals, landscape architects, town planners, and a broad range of
policy specialists will be able to apply the methods and tools presented here to counter unmitigated
sprawl and to create architecture that promotes active, healthier lifestyles. Stephen Verderber is an
internationally respected evidence-based researcher/practitioner/educator in the emerging, interdis-
ciplinary fi eld of architecture, health, and society. This, his latest book on the interactions between
our buildings, our cities and our health, is an invaluable reference source for everyone concerned
with sustainable architecture and landscape urbanism.
Stephen Verderber , Arch. D., NCARB, is Professor at the School of Architecture and Adjunct
Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences, Clemson University, USA. He is a Registered
Architect in the United States.
SPRAWLING CITIES AND OUR
ENDANGERED PUBLIC HEALTH
Stephen Verderber
First published 2012
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2012 Stephen Verderber
The right of Stephen Verderber to be identifi ed as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Verderber, Stephen.
Sprawling cities and our endangered public health/Stephen Verderber.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Public health. 2. Architecture—Health aspects. 3. Cities and
towns—Health aspects—Growth. I. Title.
RA566.6.V47 2012
362.1—dc23
2011045615
ISBN: 978–0–415–66532–2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978–0–415–66533–9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978–0–203–11921–1 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Refi neCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk
For Elyssa Leigh Verderber and Alexander Verderber
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations viii
Preface and Acknowledgements xi
1 Introduction: An Epidemic on Our Doorstep 1
2 Sprawl, Architecture, and Health: A Brief History 13
3 Global Sprawl Machines 38
4 Transfusion: Design Considerations 53
5 Case Study: New Orleans 130
6 The Future 194
Appendix: Mall Typologies 205
Index 222
ILLUSTRATIONS
Cover image: ONL (Oosterhuis_Lénárd)/‘751 Project’_Hyperbody Research Group, TU Delft, in
collaboration with South-East University of Nanjing, 2006
1.1 Dimensions of Health Promotion/Built Environment Transactions 7
2.1 Market Square, Lake Forest, Illinois, 1916 16
2.2 Old South Carolina Highway 501, 1950s 17
2.3 Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, 1950s 18
2.4 Mammy’s Kitchen, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, 1957 19
2.5 Seaside Restaurant, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, 1957 20
2.6 Bar-B-Q Club Diner, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, 1955 20
2.7 Sloppy Joe’s, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, 1965 21
2.8 SITE—Indeterminate Façade, Best Products, Houston 24
2.9 SITE—Notch Project, Best Products, Sacramento, California 25
2.10 SITE—Tilt Showroom, Best Products, Towson, Maryland 26
2.11 SITE—Ghost Parking Lot, Hamden, Connecticut 26
2.12 Chronology of Sprawl in America/Post-Sprawl Prognostications 32–33
4.1 Courtyard Park, New Jersey, Acconci Studio 55
4.2 Eliminate Medically Underserved Neighborhoods 57
4.3 Reverse Infrastructural Decline 59
4.4 Landfi ll Reclamation, Maribor, Slovenia, ecosistema urbano 60
4.5 Construct Smart Grids 62
4.6 Greenfi elding 65
4.7 Zig Zag Watergarden, The Netherlands 67
4.8 Transform Water Edges 68
4.9 Energy Farming, Chicago 70
4.10 Pedestrianism 71
4.11 Cycling Culture 73
4.12 Intermodalism 74
4.13 Pavilion for Urban Agriculture, Madrid, Spain, ecosistema urbano 75
4.14 P iter Jelles YnSicht School, The Netherlands, RAU 76
Illustrations ix
4.15 SITE—Forest/Terrarium Building (Proposal), Richmond, Virginia 78
4.16 Reinvent Suburban Centers 79
4.17 Redeployable Housing Modules, Mondragón, Spain 81
4.18 Embrace Pre-Manufactured Modularity 81
4.19 Glass Bubble, Malmö, Sweden 84
4.20 Qingpu Pedestrian Bridge, China 85
4.21 Create Echo Housing 86
4.22 Amphibious House (Proposal), Basel, Switzerland 87
4.23 Reclaimed WWF Agricultural Laboratory, The Netherlands, RAU 89
4.24 Frog’s Dream, Reburbia Competition (Proposal), Calvin Chiu 90
4.25 F açade Fluidity 91
4.26 Dead mall, Lafayette, Louisiana 94
4.27 Deconstruct Dead Malls 96
4.28 Camino Nuevo Academy, Los Angeles, Daly Genik Architects 97
4.29 Buildings that Breathe 98
4.30a–b Big Box Agriculture, Reburbia Competition (Proposal), Forrest Fulton 99
4.31 Fukuoka Prefectural International Hall, Japan 100
4.32 Reclaim Dead Pavement 102
4.33 Reclaim Dead/Dying Strips 103
4.34 Design Studio/Residence, Sangath, India 105
4.35 Foster Vertical Horticulture 106
4.36 Vertical Garden, Suburban Infi ll Housing (Proposal), São Paulo, Brazil 106
4.37 SITE—Terrarium Showroom (Proposal) 108
4.38 Inter Estates: Freeway Vertical Farming, Reburbia Competition (Proposal),
Daniel Phillips 109
4.39 Suburban Agricultural Networks 110
4.40 Suburban Farming: Implements/Amenities 111
4.41 Student Center, Averett University, Danville, Virginia,
Pete O’Shea/Siteworks Studio 114
4.42 Transfusion Zone Diagnostics 115
4.43 Geomap Resourcing 117
4.44 Engage Suburban Stakeholders 118
4.45 Dead Mall Game (Simulation) 119
4.46 Dead Mall Game (Simulation), Components 120
4.47 Dead Mall Game (Simulation), Phases 121
4.48 Dead Mall Game (Simulation), Outcome Scenarios 122
4.49 Foster Innovation—Design Competitions 123
4.50 Incremental Transfusion 124
5.1 Common and Rampart Streets, New Orleans, 1946 134
5.2 Dollar Store Corner Market, Dryades Street (now Orthea Castle Haley Blvd.),
New Orleans, 1954 135
5.3 Walter Patrolia Beer Parlor (now Marie’s), Faubourg Marigny, New Orleans 135
5.4 Community Food Store-Supermarket/Cabibi’s Pharmacy,
Carrollton Avenue, New Orleans, 1952 136
5.5 Airline Shopping Center, Metairie, Louisiana, 1956 136
5.6 Gentilly Woods Shopping Center, New Orleans, 1949 137
x Illustrations
5.7a–d Pre-WWII Development, New Orleans (Orleans Parish) 138
5.8a–d P ost-WWII Development, New Orleans (Orleans Parish) 140
5.9a–d Natural Ecologies/Open Space, New Orleans (Orleans Parish) 141
5.10a–b Hurricane Katrina/Post-Katrina, New Orleans (Orleans Parish) 142
5.11a–d Katrina Devastation, 2005 143
5.12 Commercial Vernacular, Gentilly, New Orleans, 2011 151
5.13a–l Neighborhood Devastation, Post-Katrina, 2005 152
5.14a–d U rban Fabric 1 158
5.15a–d U rban Fabric 2 159
5.16a–d U rban Fabric 3 160
5.17a–b Decay 162
5.18 Abandonment 163
5.19a–t S igns/Iconography 164
5.20a–b S eas of Parking 166–167
5.21a–b Places of the Dead 168–169
5.22a–t D welling Typologies 170
5.23a–t Dwelling Typologies (continued) 171
5.24a–k R esidualization 172
5.25a–m Residualization (continued) 173
5.26a–b Landmarks and Anomalies 174
5.27 Ground Level Landscape/Architectural Plan 177
5.28 Level 2 Landscape/ Architectural Plan 178
5.29 Level 3 Landscape/Architectural Plan 179
5.30 Transfusion: Overview with Embedded Design Considerations 1–75 181
5.31a–b G entilly Commons (Rooftop Park)—Fresh Food Market
(below)/Urban Farm and Stoa 183
5.32a–b Wellness Center Therapeutic Spa/Multiuse Health Center and
Vertical Garden 184
5.33a–b Rooftop Farming/Pedestrian and Cycling Paths 185
5.34a–b I nterval 1(I-1) and Interval 2 (I-2) Transfusion 186
5.35a–b I -3 and I-4 Transfusion 187
5.36a–b I -5 and I-6 Transfusion 188
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I was raised in a suburb of Chicago. My family’s home was 2 miles inland from Lake Michigan and
12 miles north of downtown. My parents’ home was a now-classic 1950s suburban ranch with a broad
front lawn and backyard. The Edens Expressway linked our suburb to the city center. Commuting
was then and remains a way of life in this bedroom suburb, Skokie. The area was settled by mostly
German immigrants where, at one time, Native American trading routes crossed. Miles and miles of
street were paved, and sanitary systems built, in the 1920s just prior to the 1929 Great Stock Market
Crash and the subsequent Great Depression of the 1930s. The budding suburb’s private developers
and the local government went bust in the Depression. Not much happened until the end of World
War II, then basically everything happened all at once. Until then, a few houses and neighborhoods
were built here and there, most within walking distance of the old town center and its commuter rail
line (North Shore Line) whose passenger stations ran up along Skokie through the Chicago’s North
Shore suburbs then up to Milwaukee.
America’s suburbs were once the land of opportunity. The booming post-war years were fi lled
with hope and optimism for a better life. The post-WWII decades were about expansion in every
way: larger lifestyles, larger paychecks, larger career aspirations, larger families, larger automobiles,
and larger quantities of mass consumer products. The successive waves of migration outward from
the city center to new suburbs ever further out had a negative impact on many inner ring suburbs.
This mass out-migration was seen as necessary in the quest to attain the American Dream. The boom
began in 1946, with the return of thousands of veterans who were starting families and needed more
space than an apartment in the city could provide. By 1970, nearly every vacant lot in Skokie was
built-out. There was nowhere for upwardly mobile families to go except to move ever further out
into suburbia’s more upscale destinations—to one of an ever-expanding array of suburbs that by then
stretched outward, radiating like tentacles for miles far into once-open prairie and farmland, up to
50 miles from Chicago. By then, inner ring suburbs such as Skokie were considered passé although
the place never fell on hard times because of its excellent location within the suburban matrix.
When I was nineteen, I remember driving with my father, ranting on how for a teenager living
in a suburb was like existing in some strange purgatorial state—suburbgatory. I remember repeating
to him, “The suburbs will die! They will die! They cannot survive!” It was the middle of the
Arab Oil Embargo. Spiking oil prices were causing long lines at the fi lling station and everyone was
