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"The government in the past created one American Desire at the trouble of almost all others: the dream of a residence, a yard, a picket fence, two children, and a car. But there is absolutely no single American Desire anymore." For nearly 70 years, the suburbs were as American as apple pie. As the center school ballooned and single-family homes and cars became more affordable, we flocked to pre-fabricated communities in the suburbs, a location where wide open air and solitude offered a retreat from our dense, polluted cities. In a short time, success became synonymous with a private home in a bedroom community filled with a yard, a two-car storage and a commute to any office, and subdivisions quickly blanketed our landscape. But in modern times things have began to change. An epic property crisis discovered existing problems with this unique pattern of development, while the steady take of long-simmering economic, societal and demographic forces has culminated in a Perfect Storm that has led to a profound move in the manner we prefer to live. In The End of the Suburbs journalist Leigh Gallagher traces the climb and street to redemption of American suburbia from the stately railroad suburbs that sprung up outside American metropolitan areas in the 19th and early 20th hundreds of years to current-day sprawling exurbs where residents spend as much as four hours every day commuting. Along the way she shows why suburbia was unsustainable right away and explores the hundreds of new, alternative communities that are springing up around the united states and promise to reshape our life-style for the better. Not absolutely all suburbs are going to vanish, of course, but Gallagher's research and reporting show the movements are undeniable. Consider a few of the forces at work:
- The nuclear family is forget about: Our marriage and birth rates are continuously declining, while the single-person households are increasing. Thus, the good academic institutions and family-friendly lifestyle the suburbs promised are increasingly pointless.
- We want out of our cars: As the price of oil continues to rise, the hours-long commutes required on us by sprawl have grown to be unaffordable for many. Meanwhile, today's more radiant generation has indicated a perplexing indifference toward cars and traveling. Both shifts have fueled demand for denser, pedestrian-friendly communities.
- Cities are booming: Once abandoned by the prosperous, metropolitan areas are experiencing a renaissance, especially among more radiant generations and family members with young children. At the same time, suburbs across the country have had to confront never-before-seen rates of poverty and crime.
