This study includes an examination of the attitudes which have shaped American domestic architecture, and an explanation of how the symbolic language of American suburban areas is important to the design of suburban residential development.

A design case study is included, which illustrates how a concern for the preservation of the symbolic content of suburban form can be integrated with a desire to reduce the wasteful land coverage of the typical suburban settlement, in order to produce a new suburban pattern.

Selected drawings and tables are used to illustrate the text, and to help explain the rationale behind the design case study.