Burbank, California, Is Worried It Might Have a 'Mansionization' Problem

There are plenty of reasons to disdain the McMansion, ranging from environmental to economic to social. But underneath it all, the central critique of these oversized suburban-style homes is that so many of them are just plain ugly.

For a few years after the housing market crash, it seemed America's "mansionization" trend might be over. But in 2012, the new houses being built in the United States were bigger than ever, prompting fresh rounds of hand-wringing from preservationists and anti-McMansion aesthetes. For the first time since the bubble burst, cities and older suburbs in many parts of the country are renewing the process of grappling with a tough question: how big is too big?