What Future Awaits the Suburbs?

"One unanticipated discovery that became clear from the commentary was just how deep an animosity exists between urban dwellers and suburbanites. Perhaps “saving” was the wrong verb to use in the title. True, there are many fantastic suburbs (I grew up in one) but that doesn’t negate the reality of places like Rio Vista, Calif., where an upscale 855-home development called Hearth and Home at Liberty (a name so cruelly ironic it surpasses irony altogether) was abandoned last year, leaving graded streets, a few model homes and little else. Exploring what to do with the extreme — semi-abandoned, half-built subdivisions from Merced, Calif., to Lake County, Fla. — was done with the broader intention of rethinking how all communities might better be designed, built and experienced."

"This is not unexplored territory; good ideas abound, but most remain just that — great theory, little practice. Some suburbs get it right; some cities do, too. But too many, especially in recent years, just haven’t."

"Housing starts were off 15.5 percent in December. Whether they return to “normal” later this year, or next year, or the year after that, it is crucial that the industry learns from its recent mistakes, which have ranged from overbuilding to product homogeneity. New (and existing) homes and communities, and the people who reside in them, whether they’re on Lexington Avenue or Quail Ridge Lane, can benefit from any number of creative ideas, designs and efforts already underway not just from the “housing industry” but from your friends and neighbors, too."