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Can Sprawl Be Beneficial?

Sprawl: A Compact History: A Panel discussion with author Robert Bruegmann

Sprawl: A Compact History:
A Panel discussion with author Robert Bruegmann

In this lively program co-sponsored by the Municipal Art Society’s Urban Center Books and the Storefront for Art and Architecture, author Robert Bruegmann will articulate the ways his controversial claims about urban history and current public policy challenge conventional planning wisdom and highlight the often-overlooked benefits of sprawl. An expert panel of urban designers and historians will then debate the social, economic, environmental, and aesthetic implications related to contemporary issues of mobility, privacy and choice outlined in this scholarly “best-seller” that has been a surprise hit of the season.

Moderator:
James Russell, architecture critic.

Confirmed Panelists:
Robert Bruegmann, professor of Art History, Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Illinois at Chicago;
Eugenie Birch, chair and professor, Department of City and Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania;
Alexander Garvin, adjunct professor of Urban Planning and Management, Yale University.

Photo of Aaron Donovan
Before he began blogging about land use and transportation, Aaron Donovan wrote The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund's annual fundraising appeal for three years and earned a master's degree in urban planning from Columbia. Since then, he has worked for nonprofit organizations devoted to New York City economic development. He lives and works in the Financial District, and sees New York's pre-automobile built form as an asset that makes New York unique in the United States, and as a strategic advantage that should be capitalized upon.

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