Even in Sprawling Arizona, Downtown Condos Are Now Hip

The Christian Science Monitor reports on a growing movement of Arizonans who are forsaking sprawling suburbia for downtown living:

"This movement is fueling a bevy of condominium projects in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Other conditions - like rising energy costs, congested freeways, a new, downtown Phoenix campus for Arizona State University, new sports and cultural complexes, and the construction of a light-rail system - are also contributing to the new phenomenon of building up rather than out.

Similar moves have already taken place in America's more densely packed metropolises. But the fact that they're happening in a place like Phoenix - with 60 percent more land than New York City but only one-seventh of its population - suggests that residents of even the most sprawling cities are ready for change."