Freakonomics Investigates Suburbia

The Freakonomics blog on NYTimes.com, inspired by the book of the same name, uses economic theory to investigate non-traditional questions. In this post, the blog becomes a forum for a panel of urban experts to expound on their vision of the suburbs forty years from now.

"We gathered up a group of smart people — James Kunstler, Thomas Antus, Jan Brueckner, Gary Gates, John Archer, Alan Berube, and Lawrence Levy." Kunstler delivers his standard "apocalyptic utopianism," but while the rest agree that the suburbs of the future will look very different, each has their own take.