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The late historian Tony Judt said that drawing on "usable pasts" was a more certain path to a better world than "dreaming of infinite futures." When it comes to building more equitable and sustainable suburbs in the 21st century, models from this country's past may seem to be in short supply. But there's more to the history of American suburbia than Olmsted and Levittown. This lecture will explore three unusual suburban communities—the Stelton anarchist colony in New Jersey; Greenbelt, Maryland; and Concord Park, Pennsylvania—that presage what are now seen as progressive ideas about dense and affordable housing, walkable neighborhoods, and addressing the legacy of racial segregation. Rethinking the typical American suburb is as much about reclaiming these precursors as it is about discarding those that no longer serve us.

Amanda Kolson Hurley is an editor at Bloomberg Businessweek and was formerly an editor at CityLab. She has contributed to publications including Architect, The Atlantic, and The Washington Post, and her book Radical Suburbs (Belt Publishing) appeared in 2019. She lives in Silver Spring.

This lecture will be hosted virtually via Zoom.