7 Comments on "End of Suburbia"

Repent on Wed, 5th Mar 2014 11:19 pm 



This is like 10 years old- how about some new news?

Makati1 on Thu, 6th Mar 2014 12:24 am 



Suburbia was over in 1970 when the US oil peaked. Now we are in the long decline to serfdom.

PapaSmurf on Thu, 6th Mar 2014 1:47 am 



“Suburbia was over in 1970”
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Makati1, do you realize how stupid that sounds? It was over 44 years ago? Did someone forget to tell everyone?

Keith on Thu, 6th Mar 2014 3:30 am 



I think Makati means that suburbia peaked in 1970.

Makati1 on Thu, 6th Mar 2014 7:01 am 



Keith, you understood my comment. Some others didn’t. What we have now is the dying lifestyle called suburban living. Most Americans own their last car and public transit will not cover that loss.

GregT on Thu, 6th Mar 2014 7:47 am 



North American suburbia has been on a downhill slope since the 70s, anyone paying attention should be able to understand this. But of course many have been paying far too much attention to other things.

Take for example, fantasy worlds created by cartoonists, complete with small blue fictional creatures that live in mushrooms.

Smurfs can walk and run, but often move by skipping on both feet. They love to eat sarsaparilla (a species of Smilax) leaves, whose berries the Smurfs naturally call “smurfberries”. (of course) Smurfs fulfill simple archetypes of everyday people: Lazy Smurf, Grouchy Smurf, Brainy Smurf, and so on. All of the original Smurfs were male; later female additions are Smurfette and Sassette—Smurfette being Gargamel’s creation, while Sassette was created by the Smurflings.

The Smurfs secured their place in North American pop culture in 1981, when the Saturday-morning cartoon series The Smurfs, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in association with SEPP International S.A., aired on NBC from 1981 to Aug 25 1990. The Smurfs was nominated multiple times for Daytime Emmy awards, and won Outstanding Children’s Entertainment Series in 1982–1983. The Smurfs was named the 97th best animated series by IGN.

They called it “kiddie cocaine” for people growing up during the 1980s.

rollin on Thu, 6th Mar 2014 12:19 pm 



It’s not the suburbs, the cities, the rural areas that are the problem. They all will adjust to changing conditions.
Power systems will become more dispersed and robust. Bedroom communities will develop village and town centers. The classical suburb had those already but town planners started to isolate them too, they loved the stores being put in one large area miles from the housing. I call it anal design, a form of mental illness that makes zoning so much simpler. Like little boxes where everything is the same. So easy for small sick minds to deal with.

It’s this giant extended global economy that makes the system fragile. Having a business being dependent upon materials, parts, and manufacturing dispersed over huge areas of the globe makes it extremely vulnerable to change.