Re-Urbanizing the Suburbanized
The majority of the world's population now lives in urban areas -- except for Britain. Some say that bucked trend must be reversed.
"The 2001 census revealed an "exodus from the cities". Since 1981, Greater London and the six former metropolitan counties of Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, West Midlands and West Yorkshire have lost some 2.25 million people in net migration exchanges with the rest of the UK; in recent years this trend has accelerated.
This is not sustainable. British people need to be cured of the insidious fantasy of leaving the city and owning a house in the country: their romantic dream will become a nightmare for people elsewhere on the planet."
This piece suggests taxing lifestyles that are unsustainable.
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Misleading story
The whole story is misleading. Inner London is actually GAINING people:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_London#Historical_population
So its not that people are leaving city for suburb. Rather, people are moving away from the "unhappy medium" of older suburbs in both direction- both to more rural life AND to more urban life.