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 A Five Part Series from TTBOOK! |
TO SPRAWL OR NOT TO SPRAWL
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Program 08-02-03-B |
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Subdivisions. Industrial Parks. Strip Malls. Gridlock. Sprawl is socially unequal, environmentally irresponsible, and aesthetically ugly. Right? In this hour of To the Best Of Our Knowledge, we'll look at the costs and – YES – the benefits of suburban sprawl. Because maybe, just maybe, sprawl is a good thing.
SEGMENT 1:
Joel Hirschhorn is the author of "Sprawl Kills: How Blandburbs. Steal Your Time, Health and Money." He obviously thinks urban sprawl is a terrible idea and tells Steve Paulson all the reasons why.
SEGMENT 2:
Robert Bruegmann makes the case for the opposite point of view in his book "Sprawl: A History." He says societies have always grown and ours looks the way it does because suburbs represent the way Americans like to live. Also, urban sprawl is a staggering problem in China as a result of the on-going Chinese industrial revolution. Photographer Edward Burtynsky traveled to China to document its "Manufactured Landscapes," and film-maker Jennifer Baichwal documented his trip in her film of the same name. Baichwal talks with Steve Paulson about the scale of China's ecological problems and the beauty of Burtynsky's images.
SEGMENT 3:
Novelist Tom Perrotta reads from "Little Children" and "The Abstinence Teacher," and talks with Anne Strainchamps about life in the suburbs, where everything is nice, and nobody wants a pedophile to move into the neighborhood.
CD copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 08-02-03-B.
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Books:
| Robert Bruegmann, Sprawl:
A Compact History (University of Chicago Press) |
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Joel Hirschhorn, Sprawl Kills: How Blandburbs Steal Your Time, Health and Money (Sterling & Ross Publishers) |
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Tom Perrotta, The Abstinence Teacher ( St. Martin's Press) |
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| Tom Perotta, Little Children (St. Martin's Press) |  |
Film:
“Manufactured Landscapes” (2006) directed by Jennifer Baichwal.
Websites:
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To read Robert Bruegmann’s recent pro-sprawl articles:
http://www.robertbruegmann.com/media1.html
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Joel Hirschhorn's website:
http://www.sprawlkills.com -
Edward Burtynski's website:
http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/
- Tom Perotta
http://www.tomperrotta.net
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http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/film.php?directoryname=manufacturedlandscapes
Music:
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Radiohead’s “Pyramid Song” off of their CD “Amnesiac” on Capital Records.
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Radiohead’s “Like Spinning Plates” off of their CD “Amnesiac” on Capital Records.
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Thom Yorke’s “And it Rained All Night” off of his CD “Eraser” on XL Recordings.
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Rockabye Baby’s “No Surprises” off of their CD “Lullaby Renditions of Radiohead” on Baby Rock Records.
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Distribution dates: week of 02/03/2008 - hour 2 |
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