Preaching Urbanity in Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City has seen its share of foreclosure in its outer suburbs. Local planners and urban planning professors see this as an opportunity to convince locals of the benefits of city living.

1 minute read

April 14, 2009, 6:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur


"Keith Bartholomew has felt a little like John the Baptist in the desert as of late.

The urban planning professor's message to the suburbs: "Repent."

Amid the picket fences and two-car garages, a deluge of "for sale" signs and foreclosures highlights the failure of "the real estate machine" and the redefinition of the American Dream, Bartholomew said.

And as the country looks to resuscitate its housing market, the University of Utah academic hopes Americans will return to the urban core, swapping a love affair with the car and the cul-de-sac for mass transit and mixed-use developments.

"That's more reflective of what the American Dream is now," Bartholomew said. "A home is not just the four walls of a suburban house. It's the neighborhood and the community.""

Saturday, April 11, 2009 in Deseret News

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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