Suburban America Problems And Promise Analysis

I had the opportunity to watch the documentary film Suburban America: Problems and Promises (9/2011). It was an overview of how the American suburbs have changed since they were planned and built in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The changes that focused on were political, aging infrastructure, ethnic, social, and redevelopment with an emphasis on creating a more sustainable vision. Looking at the current condition of many suburbs, it became evident to the film maker that the suburb as designed and built was not a sustainable development. The film’s content and people interviewed the film maker is reaching out to a variety of stakeholders, which includes college students (tomorrow’s leaders), politicians, developers, planners and those who populate suburbs today.
This documentary was intended to enlighten on the how the suburbs have changed in the past 50-60 years in terms of aging infrastructure, the ethnic culture, social pressures, and most of all politically since the film’s interviews were interwoven with a local election, and the 2008 presidential election as backdrops to film’s main content. The …show more content…
This includes examples of the ethnicity of the residents and dispelling old beliefs such as how the suburbs were populated with various Cleaver family, June, Ward, Wally, and the Beaver stereotypes. In addition, it brought the notion of how important the political and economic agendas are to the promotion and creation of sustainable redevelopment and used Long Island as the first American modern suburb in illustration. In addition, it kept bouncing to the 2008 Presidential election, and an important local suburban election which may have implications good or bad changes to the local suburbia depending on who wins, which I found distracting. Other places besides Long Island used in the film for various aspects included Arlington, Chicago, Reston, Cleveland, Minneapolis, and Orange