Down with suburban sprawl!

Transport Blog links to this article, The New, Neighborly Architecture by Philip Langdon and Andres Duany, about alternatives to the typical low density suburbia of many American cities.

I've read many articles on the blogosphere about the failure of suburban light and heavy rail in America, and the apparent addiction of Americans to their cars. The trouble seems to be that the layout of American cities doesn't give any real alternatives. The population density of most places is too low for any form of mass transit to be economically viable, and the result is cities where it's simply not possible to live without a car.

Sometimes I wonder if American commentators that advocate light rail have visited Europe and seen the vibrant city centres and efficient mass transit there, and then wanted to recreate this in American cities. But simply building light rail systems won't change things. The suburbs, designed and built around the car, are too just spread out.

As I've mentioned before, three years ago, my then employer closed it's UK development centre and relocated it to Atlanta, Georgia. Although I was offered the chance to relocate, as a non driver there was no way I could live in the suburban spawl where the company had it's offices.

I'm glad to see that at least some Americans are looking at alternatives, and recognising that the car suburb isn't the only way.