Urban Forms in Suburbia: The Rise of the Edge City

I majored in Society-Technology at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1994. One of the requirements for graduation is the completion of a Major Qualifying Project. This project is sort of an undergraduate thesis. This is mine.

Please let me know what you think and how you got here!

This MQP was presented to the Worcester Polytechnic Institute department of Social Science and Policy Studies in partial completion of a degree in Society and Technology Studies. It is copyright 1994 by Stephen Foskett.

This project has been mentioned on many other sites, most recently by The Atlantic Magazine. If you mention it or make a link to it, please send me some email to let me know.

Part 1 : Part 2 : Part 3 : Part 4 : Part 5 : Part 6

1. Introduction
   1. Is suburbia worth looking at?
   2. History Of the City
   3. The Birth Of the Edge
2. History To Today
   1. What is An Edge City?
      1. Urban thought
      2. What makes a city?
      3. Another definition of city
         1. Industry
         2. Governance
         3. Commerce
         4. Safety
         5. Culture
         6. Companionship
         7. Religion
      4. Conclusion
   2. What Is A Community?
      1. Gemeinschaft vs. Gesellschaft
      2. Cities and norms
      3. Neighborhoods and social groups
      4. What feels like a neighborhood
      5. Non-dense communities
      6. Conclusion
   3. Distance As Time
      1. Physical conceptions of distance
      2. Distance as human movement
      3. Technological mitigation of space
      4. Distance as time
   4. Auspuff Macht Frei or Freedom of the Road
      1. Privacy
      2. Comfort
      3. Superhuman power
      4. Personality
      5. Conclusion
   5. The Open City
      1. Ebenezer Howard
      2. Frank Lloyd Wright
      3. Le Corbusier
      4. Edge City interpretations
      5. Conclusion
   6. The Shape of Edge City
      1. The automobile is the key
      2. The time-scale city
3. Urban Forms In Edge City
   1. Work
   2. Home
   3. Social Life
   4. Consumption
   5. Conclusion
4. Private Governments
   1. Ideas About Government
   2. The Basis Of Government
   3. Alternatives To The Public Sector
      1. Tenants’ associations
      2. Mall management
      3. Privacy or fascism?
   4. The Benefits of Private Governments
      1. Choice
      2. Services
      3. Conclusion
   5. Negative Aspects of Private Governments
      1. The disenfranchised
      2. The residuals
      3. Conclusion
   6. Private Governments and Edge Cities
5. The Future
   1. The Case For Edge City
      1. Choice
      2. Safety
   2. The Case For Old Towns
      1. Infrastructure
      2. Community, values, and traditions
      3. Conclusion
   3. An Alternative
      1. The Pedestrian Pocket
      2. The New Town
   4. The Big Problem
      1. The requisite car
      2. The requisite cash
      3. Exclusion
      4. The best
      5. The rest
      6. Who pays?
      7. Privacy and government
6. Conclusions
   1. The Underclass
   2. The Overclass
   3. The Dream