The Atlantic doesn’t have a subcription firewall any more, but it does impose a pretty substantial delay between sending the magazine out to subscribers and putting it up online. As a result, I can’t (yet) link to Christopher Leinberger’s excellent piece on the urbanization and de-suburbanization of America in the March issue of the magazine. It’s full of insights such as this, on the suburban housing boom which has just ended:
Sprawling, large-lot suburbs become less attractive as they become more densely built, but urban areas – especially those well served by public transit – become more appealing as they are filled in and built up.
Leinberger’s thesis is that many (not all) suburbs could become the new inner cities, with high crime rates and failing schools, as the affluent flock increasingly to walkable areas. Do read the whole thing, when it finally appears online.