Op-Ed: Stop Demonizing the Suburbs

"So why do I feel so defensive?" asks Floyd. "Because suburbs are the devil."

"Well, they’ve been the devil for decades, but there seems to be a fresh urgency to the hostility — in these parts, anyway. As a spirit of “new urbanism” is making serious inroads in Dallas, its satellite communities are fielding the blame for a host of woes: not just freeways and sprawl but such elemental human failings as greed, bigotry and mindless consumerism."

Floyd mentions the New Cities Summit and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which "voiced…enthusiasm for designing cities for people rather than cars and for fostering street-level life that extends beyond office hours," but no specific attacks on the suburbs are mentioned.

Regardless, Floyd's appeal: "But please, por favor, could we dispense with the haughty stereotype of suburban cities as unenlightened wastelands? If we really want to make our lives more 'walkable' and 'sustainable,' we need to quit pretending there’s one narrow model for virtuous existence, and no others need apply."