Wendell Cox: California's War on Suburbia

[mhays]

They're still winning a lot of battles. Their type of thinking dominates much of the country, and influences even the places they don't dominate.

[Doady]

Trying to stop suburban sprawl is a waste of time. Urban planning is waste of time. Any suburb can have high transit ridership anyways - all that matters is the level of transit service. The design of the environment is not a big factor at all for getting people out of their cars.

[LtBk]

Originally Posted by mhays

They're still winning a lot of battles. Their type of thinking dominates much of the country, and influences even the places they don't dominate.

That's right-wing populism for you.

[zilfondel]

Considering that people now value inner city living above suburban, the suburbs have already lost.

However, at least in this country, the two complement each other well. Its the fetishization of the suburbs to the detriment of the inner city that has come to an end, measured by the fact that the vacancy rate for housing in most American cities is in the single digits, whereas many suburban (esp exurban) homes are practically worthless.

Haven't you guys noticed that its strange that in the worst recession in 75 years, people continue to flock to the city instead of the suburbs, which you would consider more familiar to many people?

Psychologically, many people (not all, obviously) are following the money - jobs and living a more urban, efficient lifestyle.

[mhays]

The suburban trend has been based on "driving until you qualify" (oil prices screwed that up), avoiding different types of people (many are integrating at a rapid pace), good schools (often budgets are tanking the worst farther out), lack of crime (guess where it's headed?), free-flowing traffic (long gone), subsidies for roads etc. (also long gone), an absence of derelict properties (died in 2008), and the general new-ness of everything (some places are getting very little that's new).

Likewise, cities have historically driven people outward for reasons that are often not true anymore.

I buy that most people still like houses. But the trends aren't "way out" anymore.