In a NY Times article recently they explain the recent decrease in suburban house prices and the increase in energy as indicators for a new urban renaissance and the demise of suburbia. While some see this only as a blip on the energy and real estate bubbles, its an exciting time to rethink not only where we live but what suburbia can do for us.
The article, Rethinking Country Life as Energy Cost Rise, includes interviews from both sides of the fence: the rural forever's and the urban interested. They all remark about the loss of privacy, safety and the ideal of their children able to "run outside barefoot".
But if we are to really "rethink" suburbia it doesn't mean we have to all move to the urban centers. A new vision of what suburbia can be is necessary. One that rethinks density, proximity to commercial conveniences, public transportation and the access to local employment. Why can't suburbia become the new enclaves of community?
Photo and article from NY Times article: Rethinking Country Life as Energy Cost Rise (June 25, 2008 by Peter S. Goodman.
Additional readings:
Volume 9: Suburbia After the Crash by R. Koolhaas, O. Bouman, M. Wigley
Suburban Transformations by Paul Lukez
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