CNN: American dream has faded into suburban nightmare
Posted on June 17, 2008 by Brian Cesarotti
The collapse of the American dream or the beginning of a new one?
That’s the issue Lara Farrar explores in an article on CNN.com, relaying a story of how the once typical suburb of Elk Grove, California has turned into an abandoned, unkept, haven for young criminals. The foreclosures resulting from the sub-prime mortgage crisis and the increasing desire to live in a walkable community has one University of Michigan urban planning professor predicting a large shift toward “walkable urbanism” as already seen by Atlanta, Detroit and Dallas. Instead of labeling the American dream has “dying” he instead says it is “changing.” This view isn’t shared by everyone. The homeowner featured in the story says he would not want to move out of a suburban setting.
“”It’s the American dream, you know,” he said. “The American dream.”
Nevertheless, urban planning professor Christopher Leinberger predicts half of the urban development in 2025 will not have existed in 2000. In addition, about 22 million “McMansions” will be occupied by the several lower class families. This seems to be the only way to overcome the massive misallocation of resources that has been suburban development.
Thirty-five percent of the nation’s wealth, according to Leinberger, has been invested in constructing this drivable suburban landscape.
