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suburbs

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    Good lord, American homes are huge

    This infographic from the BBC shows how much newly built North American, and especially U.S., homes dwarf those currently being built in Europe. The average new U.S. home is more than twice as big as the average new home in the U.K.

    Jess Zimmerman Culture

  • The American suburbs are a giant Ponzi scheme

    Our current pattern of autocentric development does not create real wealth. It creates the illusion of wealth. Today we are in the process of seeing that illusion destroyed, and with it the prosperity we have come to take for granted.

    Charles Marohn Buildings

  • As suburban office parks lose steam, Apple unveils the ultimate example

    Back to the future in the Apple spaceship.Screenshot: Apple via YouTube The old-school suburban office park seems to be having a midlife crisis. A special report in Crain’s about Chicago-area businesses such as Sears, AT&T, and Sara Lee looking to relocate from the suburbs to the urban core — along with the news that Swiss […]

    Sarah Goodyear Buildings

  • Suburban corporate campuses are going out of fashion

    Is the corporate suburban stampede finally reversing? Photo: KevinCross-posted from the Natural Resources Defense Council. In the late 1990s, when Don Chen, Matt Raimi, and I were researching our book, Once There Were Greenfields, we lamented the flight of business from America’s central cities to increasingly outer suburbs and farmland. In that book we frequently […]

    Kaid Benfield Culture

  • Why are we so angry at the pump? Because we have no choice

    Photo: A SiegelEuropeans want to know: “Why are Americans so angry about petrol prices?“ An article on the BBC earlier this week looks at the question from a very high-minded, almost anthropological perspective. You can almost see the reporter screwing in his monocle to observe the colonists’ colorful ways. Aside from a few man-in-the-parking-lot interviews […]

    Sarah Goodyear Buildings

  • Suburbs and cities: Stop the name-calling, already

    What’s in a name?Photo: Ryan BowmanWhat is the difference between a city and a suburb, anyway? It’s an important question because so many times, the debate about the allocation of resources in our country is framed this way, as if there were some kind of obvious dichotomy between suburbs and cities, some bright line that […]

    Sarah Goodyear Buildings

  • Thinking ‘like an Avon Lady’ to get suburban workers on transit

    Making a greener office park.Photo: Keith CuddebackFascinating case study in The Atlantic about getting people out of their cars and onto transit for their commute. Lisa Margonelli writes about a program at a suburban California office park that has had huge success in encouraging workers to leave the car at home — by emphasizing the […]

    Sarah Goodyear Housing

  • The lawn goodbye: A desperate nation paints its yards green

    The grass is always greener.Photo: ClaudiaAh, the American lawn! Symbol of prestige! Source of unending drudgery! Environmental nightmare! Why do we have this thing, anyway? The lawn originated in Europe, perhaps first as an area cleared near castles to allow for the easy sighting of potential attackers, then later maintained as a sign of social […]

    Sarah Goodyear Culture

  • Facebook’s new campus will simulate real street life, just like Facebook

    Facebook’s headquarters will have a new suburban face.Photo: pshabNow that Facebook has eaten the entire world and drunk its milkshake, the company understandably needs more space to let it all hang out. So they’re moving from their offices in Palo Alto, Calif., to a campus of their own in Menlo Park, a corporate park that […]

    Sarah Goodyear Technology