FROM THE EDITOR
“In our special transit-oriented issue, we highlight only the smartest transit projects because we believe many of the positives of urban living will be embraced by Americans as water and energy become more precious.”
Surburbia Fights Back
As we were pulling together this issue on transit-oriented development and the state of the automotive industry, an announcement came heralding the formation of a new museum: The National Museum of Suburban History. Located in Shawnee, Kan., the project’s leadership aims to educate visitors on the benefi ts of living in suburban America, conduct research on life in the ’burbs, and promote “suburban studies” in colleges and universities. The same week, an opinion piece in
the Wall Street Journal by Joel Kotkin claims “the condo bust should lay to rest the notion that the American love aff air with suburbia is over.” He claims that baby boomers are aging in place and not heading to downtown condos, millennials are more besotted with suburbia than their boomer parents, and that immigrants are more inclined to pursue the suburban dream than they were just a few decades ago. Suburbia, where approximately 50%
of Americans live, has been vilifi ed over the past decades as an indolent outer ring of bedroom communities with strip malls, cookie-cutter tract homes, and a
8 GreenBuilder July > August 2010
preponderance of minivans. Cities, on the other hand, have been hailed in the press as the future of housing and hubs of entertainment and culture. As with many things, the truth is a little
bit of both. I must confess that the projects that most excite us here at Green Builder are urban or fi rst-ring neighborhoods because of the compelling transportation story. Many of these locations have absolutely everything a homeowner needs to access a simple walk or bike ride away. If more of these types of developments were built (and were more aff ordable), we could reduce our dependence on oil, which is an issue on everyone’s minds as BP continues to swab up the petroleum murk in the Gulf of Mexico.
In this, our special transit-oriented issue,
we highlight only the smartest transit projects (see “What Makes Transit Work? page 32) because we believe many of the positives of urban living will be embraced by Americans as water and energy become more precious, which they undoubtedly will over the next decade. But I think it’s also important to remember that the suburbs are here to stay and that while new ones are hardly springing up in this stagnant economy, they are sitting on the boards, ready to go. The question is whether these new suburban areas will be any better than the ones that came during the boom years. Will they off er walkability for health and
for shopping and other amenities? Will they promote bicycle commuting? Off er car shares? Will they preserve more green space and use density where appropriate? There’s a whole host of ideas pioneered by city developers that could be commandeered to make the suburbs a more viable option for tomorrow. Kotkin ended his piece with this: “Rather
than ignore consumer choice, cities and suburbs need to focus on basic tasks like creating jobs, improving schools, developing cultural amenities, and promoting public safety. It is these mundane steps—not utopian theory or regulatory diktats—that ultimately make successful communities.” We will continue to cover the new patterns
of development in our issues and bring you more examples of the kinds of communities you can emulate. Please send me your thoughts on this topic or projects you are working on that address urban development as well as the “new suburbia.” GB
Cati O’Keefe Editor-in-Chief 513-407-5611
cati@greenbuildermag.com
www.greenbuildermag.com
Christopher Cone Photography
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