Philip takes compares urban planning in Maine and Latin America. Basicly our automobile focused planning is a serious inhibiter to community. Some good links and book references in the comments:
- Does Suburbia Breed Violence?
- The Second Coming of the American Small Town
- Suburban Nation, Review
- The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces by William H. Why
- Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream by Andres Duany
- The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America’s Man-Made Landscape by James Howard Kunstler
- The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations, and Its Prospects by Lewis Mumford