But if you accept the fact that there are no major downtown business centers anymore, then you can develop policies that say it's okay for people to live in suburbs, to locate manufacturing plants and warehouses on the periphery of the city instead of the middle of downtown. In most cities, the only growth in the downtown areas is in the government sector. That's because no one wants to be downtown, but city officials use their political muscle to bring in pork-barrel government dollars and agencies. A lot of very wise libertarians and free-market environmentalists note that the suburbs are a wretched place to live. They're banal and ugly and sterile.
Any neighborhood is banal, especially when it's new.
After a while it takes on character. Look, some suburbs are ugly. But you're talking to me right now while I'm living in the heart of New Haven, and this isn't any more attractive than the suburbs. A lot of people live here, and home prices are firming very nicely. Two-thirds of all commuters live in the suburbs.