The Decline Of Suburbia?

Experts Predict Exodus From Far-Flung Neighborhoods Back To Urban Living

…It sounds hard to believe, but some experts are now predicting that this could be the beginning of the end of suburbia — that far-flung neighborhoods could be tomorrow’s slums.

Author James Howard Kunstler has been predicting the decline of the suburbs for more than 15 years.


“I think the project of suburbia is over,” he says.

Kunstler says housing far away from job centers won’t survive.

“We’ve put so much of our national wealth and even identity into the idea of suburbia that we can’t imagine having to let go of it or substantially change it,” he says.

But change is building in Sacramento. The region adopted a back to the future approach known as “smart growth”: high-density development in walkable neighborhoods near job centers and transit.

CBS (transcript and video)