The Suburbs - Bouncing Back

The Sub*text linked to this article from Forbes and New Geography about the burgeoning resurgence of the suburbs. It's a reminder that while urban planners - and even church planting movements - focus on the city, the reality is that most of the population of the U.S. lives in a suburban context.

Comments

[churnock]

I have never been one to buy into the sprawl is bad position. In fact, one could argue that the urban core is an anachronistic settlement pattern. My beef with New Urbanism is that it relies to heavily on this form (out of a sense of nostalgia) to achieve it's intended goals. However, this article was a piece of crap. To boil down the whole purpose of the suburbs (what ever those are) to preference is extremely weak. While it maybe true that most of Americans 'prefer' the suburbs, I know it is not true that they are happy with that condition. I think the preference is really a pressure to obtain what we think we are entitled to, and the cheap land and cheap building practices offer me that. But is that good and noble? I would say no.
So, before you buy into the crap that Kotkin is pushing, you might want to ask yourself, 'if we are called to redeem God's creation, what should my neighborhood look like'. I don't think that answer will push you into the burbs or give you reason to build more.