Suburban Oasis

The growth of suburbs is a phenomenon unlike any other in America. It is not restricted by location, climate, or cultural differences. In America suburbs are as big a problem as obesity, but what is causing all the problems with suburbia? for one it is the lack of diversity within the suburbs that leads to suburbs being unsustainable. living in a nicest place on earth is meaningless is you have to drive 30 minutes to get basic essentials to live off of. In most suburbs the ticket price is all developers care about and that leads to maximizing profits without taking into account livability and quality of life. Just the simple addition of small public spaces and a place to purchase groceries to greatly enhance the quality of life for many residents within these neighborhoods. In the book retrofitting suburbia it goes through a step by step process that could adapt empty parking lots and old houses to create a more diverse area that lends itself to becoming urban and sustainable. Suburbia is not going away any time soon so the sooner we begin to adopt a new plan on taking the existing suburban wastelands and begin to adapt and show that there are much better alternatives that could spark the march of all new suburban neighborhoods becoming much more urban in planning and that is the key to changing how people live.  I think that we need to start with the existing and fix what has already been done before we can ever hope to influencing the future. Going back to obesity if suburbia is the same as obesity then you cannot lose fat you do not have but if you get rid of what you have it will influence the future in a positive way that will set a goal that will be carried out in the future.