Tract

.

Aerial view of housing developments near Markham, Ontario: photo by IDuke, November 2005

To want to be
like everybody else
in the tract

prevents development
of distinguishing
signs. A hair

out of place, a tooth
missing? -- no.
An infinite multiplication

of identical
units. But isn't the same
never any

more than
the same? An
infallible paradigm.

It's not so much
the dismalness
of the burbs

as the abstract
imposition of a plan
upon the natural dis

order of the world.
An infinite multiplication
of identical

units.

Levittown, Pennsylvania, aerial view: photographer unknown, 1959 (National Archives and Records Administration)

Levittown, Long Island, aerial view: photo by Tony Linck, Life, June 1948

Levittown, Long Island, aerial view: photo by Tony Linck, Life, June 1948

Dallas skyline and suburbs: photo by Andreas Praefcke, October 2009

Housing development, San Jose, California: photo by Sean O'Flaherty, 24 May 2006 
 

Tract housing near Union, Kentucky: photo by Derek Jensen, 20 June 2005

Suburban development in Colorado Springs, Colorado: photo by David Shankbone, March 2008

Reno, Nevada suburb: photo by Jonas Dovydenas for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, June 1973 (National Archives and Records Administration)

Untitled 2524 (Daly City, California): photo by Todd Hido, 1999 (Kaune, Sudendorf Gallery for Contemporary Photography, Cologne)

Aerial view of International Avenue, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, with the neighbourhoods of Albert Park, Forest Lawn, Penbrooke Meadows at the left and Dover Glen, Dover and Elliston Park at the right, Chestermere in the distance: photo by Qyd, 12 December 2006

Suburbs #2, North Las Vegas, Nevada: photo by Edward Burtynsky, 2007 (Edward Burtynsky Photographic Works)

Suburbs #3, with quarry, North Las Vegas, Nevada: photo by Edward Burtynsky, 2007 (Edward Burtynsky Photographic Works)

Suburbs #1, North Las Vegas, Nevada: photo by Edward Burtynsky, 2007 (Edward Burtynsky Photographic Works)