Taking On Joel Kotkin

Joel Kotkin, one of America's most prolific commentators on urban affairs, is a relentless critic of smart growth and defender of suburbia. Responding in a "salon" on the Congress for New Urbanism website, Michael Lewyn, an Assistant Professor at Florida Coastal School of Law, points out how Kotkin often overstates his case -- relentlessly asserting that cities are declining worldwide, but overlooking the growth of many cities during the 1990s.

"Despite the apparent similarities between Kotkin's "New Suburbanism" and New Urbanism, Kotkin has inexplicably attacked both New Urbanism and "Smart Growth" reforms that seek to promote infill development. Kotkin insinuates that New Urbanism is only relevant to cities, that cities are essentially obsolete, and that smart growth reforms are responsible for every conceivable ill from suburban sprawl to deindustrialization to low birth rates."

Thanks to Michael Lewyn