The New American Small Town

Lessons for Sustainable Urban Futures

Jennifer Mapes

• Publisher: West Virginia University Press
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN: 9781959000471
• eBook ISBN: 9781959000488
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sustainability in Architecture
• Index: Social Sciences

What makes a sustainable city? When planners and politicians talk about making cities more sustainable, they often describe changes to large urban centers like New York City or Los Angeles. Yet when they suggest solutions for sustainable living, they talk about walkable neighborhoods, traditional architecture, and diverse land uses; they talk about small towns. Planners and developers are now working to introduce a "small-town feel" into our large cities and suburbs in hopes that it will provide a sense of community and reduce the use of automobiles.

So, what of small towns themselves? We don't talk about these places as much. They are often assumed to be utopias of the past or crumbling ghost towns of the present day rather than places with potential for sustainable living. This book critically examines narratives of American small towns, contrasting them with lived experiences in these places, and considers both the myth and reality in the context of current urban challenges. Interweaving stories from and about U.S. small towns, it offers lessons in sustainable urbanism that can be applied both in the towns themselves and to the larger cities and suburbs where most Americans now live.
 

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures
• Introduction: The Myth of the American Small Town
• 1. Defining and Describing Small Towns in the US
• 2. The Small Town in the American Imagination
• 3. New Urbanism and the New Small Town
• 4. Small Towns and the Rise of Donald Trump
• 5. Dreaming Big in Small Towns
• 6. Sustainable Futures for Ordinary Cities
• Conclusion: Transforming the American Small Town
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Back Cover