That “Monster House” Is My Home: The Social and Cultural Politics of Design Reviews and Regulations

Abstract

Globalization and immigration have changed American suburbs both socially and spatially. In Fremont, California, a suburb of Silicon Valley, neighbourhoods that were once primarily the domain of single-family tract homes and white, middle- and upper-middle-class residents have given way to high-income Asian immigrant families and custom-built “McMansions”. While most scholars advocate strict regulation of these properties, this paper questions the seeming mechanistic neutrality of the design reviews, guidelines, and development standards used to regulate large-home development. In an analysis of Fremont's pro- and anti-McMansion debates and McMansion policies, this paper argues that design guidelines and development standards often employ dominant social and cultural norms about “good” and “appropriate” design. Planning and design professionals, public processes, and policies tended to privilege established, white residents' values and meanings for their homes and neighbourhoods, while marginalizing those of many middle- and upper-middle-class Chinese immigrants. The paper shows how dominant social and cultural norms regarding the proper use and design of suburban space are often reinforced through planning, design, and public policy, and shape the built environment as well as non-white residents' sense of place and belonging in it, even for those of means.

Notes

1. This paper refers to these properties as teardowns, large homes, or McMansions. The term McMansion can refer to large homes built in subdivisions of similarly scaled properties or in existing neighbourhoods (Nasar and Stamps, 2009). The latter is the definition used in this paper.

2. For a review of the literature on the Vancouver debates, see Rose (2001).

3. In 2010, the census block group boundaries for the Mission Ranch neighbourhood changed, making it difficult to compare 1990 and 2010 data. However, these figures are consistent with the larger Mission San Jose area.

4. Based on a survey of the names of property owners and residents in Mission Ranch, in 2008 four out of the five residents of the properties had Chinese last names. In one case, the property owner did not have a Chinese last name, but was not listed as the occupant of the home. Several residents reported that this home was occupied by an Asian family.

5. In this paper, though most references are based on the Mission Ranch guidelines and standards, similar, if not exactly the same, wording is also contained in the Glenmoor Gardens guidelines and standards.

6. In 2007, Fremont adopted a maximum citywide FAR of 0.7 for all residential properties. These numbers compare the maximum build-out in 2006, the year that the controversy over these properties began in Fremont and before citywide FARs were imposed, and 2010, the year that new development standards were passed.