Sustainability and Suburbia

In my lifetime, I’ve definitely seen the downfalls of suburbia in regards to the decimation of ecologies and the environment. In my hometown alone, I’ve seen a strip mall go up in an area that was once a beautiful natural forest, but I’ve also seen a strip mall decimated and replaced with a urban park that is highly utilized and praised within the adjacent communities. The ladder came later in time of course, and I believe that reflects that society and people are becoming a little more conscious, but sometimes I feel as if it's too late. I think the replacement of these spaces with greenspaces and urban parks is a step in the right direction and reflects the possibilities of what to do with abandoned spaces in the future. Although the question resides, why were these structures resurrected in the first place? Maybe they were thought to be relevant at one point or another, but I think that's a reflection that decisions must be carefully made as we move into the future and attempt to deviate from the poor decisions of the past. Development must head in a more sustainable direction, but a direction that is truly sustainable and not this overarching, vague definition of sustainability that I feel exists.