Flocking back to the suburbs?

 I am very excited to see how the concept and built environment of suburbia changes in the coming years. I absolutely ascribe to Ellen Durham Jones’ ideas on the alternatives to suburbia, seeing it as a unique problem with a solution - that solution being increased density. But not just willy-nilly density, ‘optimized’ density, as she says. With this introduction of optimized density, suburbia can and should transform into a city.

I also think that this must go hand-in-hand with David’s personal critique of healthy cities that he introduced shortly after the proposal of densifying suburbia. He stated that all healthy cities have three things: 1. Diversity, 2. Many programs, and 3. Different architecture types. For example, I think that Charleston is on the brink of becoming a ‘great’ city if it drops the politics of the BAR and allows for numerous architecture types within its colonial peninsula walls.

Lastly, I think that this all will be tied into the trend of young wealthy professionals flocking to the inner cities for that type of lifestyle (walkability, density, diversity, etc.). I think that this will switch back to suburbia in the coming years once we begin to densify it. This will also be interesting to watch.