Yet another doubling is on the way. The search for culprits also brings citizens straight back to their home communities and the land-use policies of their own local governments. Too often, all localities have done is chase development decisions with pavement. What the developers have asked for is a stream of subdivisions with limited entry points. They sold new homeowners on the idea they can deliver exclusivity and safety.
Nothing is within walking distance of anything else.
Architects Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk give a strong example in their new book, Suburban Nation, written with Jeff Speck. They note how Charleston, S.C., with a classic gridded street system, manages to handle a load of 5.5 million visitors a year within a 2500-acre zone with nearly no perceptible congestion. Nearby Hilton Head, at 10 times the size, hosts only 1.5 million people a year yet has perennially congested roads. Hilton Head pushes all the traffic on to only one or two collector roads, just like the standard suburban model of the 20th century. Good examples Let's look forward.