James Howard Kunstler: F*ck the Suburbs

James Howard Kunstler, author of Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape is angry. Nay, he's foaming at the mouth, slathering rollicking obscenities, spitting fierce vitriolic diatribes lambasting the evil cancer that is the late 20th Century American suburb. Watch him in a TED Conference video, "The Tragedy of Suburbia"



Why move away from the suburbs? Well, they're isolating, with few public spaces, helping to lead to a marked decline of social capital in the United States. Such a social disintegration may be threatening the vigorous associative spirit that De Tocqueville praised in his famous study of American democracy. Once more, the sprawl and lack of public transportation in traditional suburbs makes for constant driving, long commutes, heavy energy use, rampant air pollution and carbon emissions, and the destruction of both open spaces and farm areas. In an age where $3 gas seems like a deal, perhaps the suburbs born from cheap and plentiful oil in the 1950s have reached their obsolescence?

So what will it take to turn this:



Into this?



At least we have some good examples to work from. Here's a list of the most livable cities internationally, according to the (excellent new London-based magazine) Monocle. The only city in the United States given a nod is Honolulu, "a truly global city." And Mercer Human Resource Consulting provides their own list of top 100 cities most desired by "expatriate executives." Zurich again makes an appearance at the top, followed by Geneva, Vancouver and Vienna. Almost all the desirable cities are European, with Honolulu again ranking top for the United States (but only 27th internationally). Generally, German and Swiss cities are top picks.

As for American suburbs, the new urbanism movement has provided some outstanding examples of livable suburbs: The Irvine Ranch planned community in Orange County, Columbia in Maryland, and The Woodlands north of Houston.