The defeat of "Disney"s America" contains a lesson for other metropolitan areas: In the right circumstances, sprawl-generating projects can be stopped
There is great uneasiness about the way metropolitan areas in the United States are expanding, and nothing expresses this disquiet more tellingly than the fate that befell "Disney"s America." In the 11 months after the Walt Disney Corporation unveiled its plan for the 3,000-acre development to a surprised group of public officials in Prince William County, Virginia, the project tapped enormous discontent.
The troubles of Disney may dissipate now that the company has given up its intention of building a history theme park on fields where beef cattle graze, 35 miles west of Washington, D.C. But metropolitan sprawl, that longtime nemesis of urban thinkers — deplored in design circles since at least the time of Lewis Mumford -is likely to emerge as a key issue for the rest of the1990s. Architects, planners, and developers will confront questions about outward movement not only in the capital region, but also in other parts of the country where suburbanization is running at a breakneck pace.
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