Suburb

"Suburb is a meticulously researched and expertly crafted assessment of Montgomery County, Maryland, as it developed over the past century. Royce Hanson's account is focused largely on land use policy as he tracks the ebb and flow of power in decision making. He demarcates the changing coalitions that ruled and determined how the county developed and who benefited from their decisions. Hanson effectively interjects his own experiences as a civic leader in Montgomery County to underscore his assessments of key decisions surrounding planning and development."-Christopher Silver, University of Florida, author of Planning the Megacity: Jakarta in the Twentieth Century "In Suburb, Royce Hanson presents the history of planning in a jurisdiction that has a national reputation for land use planning. Having served as chair of the planning board of Montgomery County, Maryland, for part of the 1970s and the years between 2006 and 2010, Hanson has a long-term perspective on the ways that planners and elected officials have approached challenges related to the county's growth and development for the past several decades. Suburb will be a valuable resource for residents, planners, government officials, and developers as well as historians and political scientists."-Jim Cohen, University of Maryland "Royce Hanson tells this story of some of the great innovations, breakthroughs, and visions in planning and zoning in America with passion and extraordinary insight. Suburb tells us as much about the future of suburban America as it does about conflicting views of public and private interests, land use, and zoning in Montgomery County, Maryland."-Parris N. Glendening, President, Smart Growth America's Leadership Institute