Nightmare on Cul-de-Sac Street

So, a blogging buddy of mine just put up a post about the “death of the Suburbs” myth.  He discusses an article written in last Sunday’s LA Times that purports that the suburbs are not dying–and will not die because so many jobs moved to the suburbs in the last 20 years. 

At least the Times journalist and I agree on one thing–Many jobs did relocate to the suburbs and are still located their.  The transistion is a matter of historical perspective and economics. Suburban living became ubiquitous with the American Dream shortly after World War II. Couple that with the decline of cities as residents left for the suburbs greener pastures and it gave way to urban blight and decay. By the 1970’s, So many people had moved out of the city it not only made job retention sense, but economic sense to move a large company out to the The decision was two to the burbs. And lets not forget the incentive of cheap cheap cheap land, and there is the icing on the cake.

But then, the 90’s came and cities like NYC, Charlotte, Atlanta, Cleveland began to incentivize the  relocation of companies to revitalized in-town locations to make it not only “chic” but economically more attractive to be in-town.  Sprawl, traffic, and energy costs associated with sprawling corporate locations became less attractive.

For the last 10 years the trend away from suburban living has increased. People are changing the way in which they view how they prefer to live and work. Energy costs, traffic, and time spent commuting are making many–particularly young professionals, empty nesters, and to some degree young small families, rethink the benefits of far out, automobile fueled suburban living.

I think agree more with this guy. The suburbs may not be dead, but their ’sprawling mcmasion, two cars in the driveway’ dreams may be fading into the distance, and a new vision of transit and pedestrian orientated homestead may be the key to remaining desirable places to live.

Getting to Know All About You (And other mid-week tidbits)

Clearly, I have a penchant for old show-tune-ee, 50’s movie musical songs. But they are catchy, and appropos for this series of topics.

But I digress. On with the show.

Everyday there seems to be a new article about the cost of gas and what it means to the future of suburban America. As you might have guessed, I have long taken issue with the constant and consistent design of suburban subdivisions of “little boxes on the hillside”, and secretly look forward to the day they stop being so popular.  

But what does the increase in the cost of suburban living  mean to the current state of American livelihood? America and the term ’suburb’ are pratically ubiquitous. Since the end of War War II,  the last 60 years of infrastructure development has concentrated on the connection of suburbs. Most public transportation initiatives have been created for suburban ”choice riders”–the commuters who need to quickly get into the center city and just as quickly get out.  Our interstate system, more or less, has also been extended and expanded to do the same. 

The image of the suburb as the only way to live in a safe, clean environment has helped produce, a deep fear for many, of all things urban?  Does the ever climbing price of gas mean many will take a closer look at urban living?  Does this gas “issue” really mean that people will move to communities where there is not a quarter of an acre between them and there neighbor ? 

• Garrison Keillior says goodbye Winnebago…Hello, front porch

Darn, I always wanted to take a cross country trip in one…if I had only done it 5 years ago!

 

• Arthur J. Magida says the American Family Car Trip might be going the way of the Dodo bird.

Perhaps, more folks will do local stuff that can be reached by the commuter train, like here. 

• The U.K.’s,  Telegraph, thinks there is a broad cultural shift going on.

The question is, is this shift happening for families too? Seems the experts haven’t dug that deep yet.

• But, alas! In NYC, some families take the suburban dive–only to return to the city.

I wonder how much the “City Snob” factor has to do with that…after all NYC prides itself on being the exception, leader, to every rule.

The jury is still out on what gas prices and inflation will really mean to the livelihood of 2nd and 3rd tier suburbs which require a car to go to 7-11, but it can’t be helping when families are already squeezed by the ‘work harder make the less’ movement of the economy.  The big impact to me–is when families start moving closer to cities–and that would take either a significant fix to the public education system in most places or the decision to bite the bullet on private, charter, or montessori education. But that is a discussion for another day.