Iowa City's 'Urban Planning Folly'

"When sprawling and automobile-dependent shopping centers are situated on the outer fringes of metropolitan areas -- devouring valuable natural resources and, by consequence, the life of downtown areas - it doesn't just leave city cores without a soul. It produces a culture of consumption that encourages conformity and monotony.

...[T]he disappearance of a widely recognized local downtown business that has seen many generations come and go through its doors is disappointing and reflective of the downside of American urban planning. We say this not just as an indictment of Coral Ridge Mall or Tanger Outlet Center because we recognize that those places reflect what is going on everywhere in this country -- the establishment of shopping districts that are accessible only by car, that pay little heed to environmental health and preservation, and that result in too many downtown areas that are literally robbed of character and vitality."