Sam Bass Warner

Sam Bass Warner, Jr. formerly of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a citizen scholar active in urban reform. In numerous books and articles about U.S. cities, suburbs, neighborhoods and metropolitan regions, he invites readers to address today's problems by summoning shared memories of our American urban experience. Showing how our social relationships, cultural values and economic choices have been expressed in actions ranging from land management and development to community gardens and government planning, Warner describes the process of city building and the social consequences it has produced. Here in "American Urban Form," Warner and his artist coauthor, Andrew Whittemore use an imagined city representing the past of major U.S. cities over 400 years, to reveal how cities have changed our landscapes, buildings, houses, the environment and the way we live.