Urban Sprawl & the Landscape - Author Talk, March 29th, 7:30 pm

Owen Gutfreund Addresses Urban Sprawl and the Landscape

On Wednesday, March 29, 2006, Owen Gutfreund, Assistant Professor of History and the Urban Studies Director of the Barnard and Columbia Urban Studies Programs, will give a special presentation at the Library on twentieth century sprawl and landscape. Join us for an intriguing study of the causes and catalysts of suburban sprawl. This event is open to the public.

Professor Gutfreund's talk at the Library coincides with the Katonah Museum of Art and the Hudson River Museum's look at the art and history of suburbia, Westchester the American Suburb, a collaborative show running through May 2006.

Dr. Gutfreund's book Twentieth Century Sprawl: Highways and the Reshaping of the American Landscape offers an illuminating look at how the American highway system has dramatically transformed American communities. He analyzes several American communities including Denver, Colorado and Middlebury, Vermont to tell a compelling story of how government sponsored highway development radically transformed America's cities and towns. This "follow the money" approach to studying government subsidized suburban development also looks at the country's increased dependence on cars at the expense of efficiency, ecological concerns and social equity issues.