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Suburban America Problems And Promise Summary

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Most things have positive and negative aspects, this documentary goes into detail on the problems and promise that suburban areas hold for the United States of America and its citizens. The approximately 55 minute documentary is titled “Suburban America: Problems and Promises” and was produced by American Public Television. The intended audience of this documentary is likely students studying material that concerns urban planning. This is due to the documentaries focus on political, social and economic issues surrounding American suburbia. The audience is shown suburban issues such as infrastructure, the environment, transportation, housing costs, the economy, and how the suburbs political power can influence the entire United States and its suburban landscape. The purpose of this documentary …show more content…

The documentary explores the topics of political shifts within the suburbs, their political influence, their segregated history, their current landscape of diversity, transportation, affordable housing, planned growth, and how to better handle suburban issues. The main message the director wanted to convey to the audience is how American suburbia has its pros and cons, yet is a political force to be reckoned with, as well as a growing, positive place American citizens are eager to continue living in. The concept of urban sprawl has become a popular issue and concern for sustainability as well as politically, ethically, and socially. Concern over the issues urban sprawling creates has continued to grow. Urban sprawl, where sprawl describes the shift towards lower city densities and expanding citie footprints (Nechyba and Walsh). Comparing the United States before and after the rise of sprawling cities, Americans seem better off because urban sprawl has created higher consumption levels of housing and land for households. Yet these seemingly

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