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Sorry, Greenies, Americans Still Like Sprawl

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Feb 17, 2009 12:10 PM CST

(Newser) – When urban planners dream, they dream that Americans will give up on the suburbs in favor of a dense, environmentally friendly, less auto-dependent lifestyle. And it’s never going to happen, David Brooks writes in the New York Times. “Amsterdam is a wonderful city, but Americans never seem to want to live there.” According to a recent Pew study, cities are among the least popular places to live for Americans, who still yearn to sprawl outward.

Young people still find cities appealing—45% of 18- to 34-year-olds would like to live in New York City—but no one else does. The metro areas people most wanted to live in were Western places like Denver, Phoenix, or Seattle,“where you can imagine yourself with a stuffed garage, filled with skis, kayaks, soccer equipment, and boating equipment,” Brooks observes. It’s “the American Dream circa 2009.”

[Images (2)]

[Quotes (1)]

Denver's skyline is seen at sunset in this file photo. (Shutterstock)

Ah, the American dream. (Shutterstock)

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Americans may indeed be gloomy and hunkered down. But they’re still Americans. They are still drawn to virgin ground, still restless
against limits. - David Brooks

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 11 comments

riffran

Feb 17, 2009 11:16 PM CST

Portland Oregon.....been there twice during the Rose Festival..(was one of the slimy sailors...lol).....Wow what a beautifull city...Met a gal there and we spent the day at the coast also.....Picture perfect

Forderon

Feb 17, 2009 10:30 PM CST

Well even sterilization could be disastrous, it just sounds too easy, and thus likely to backfire. Like you said, all man-made solutions would be counterproductive. We need to develop a culture around the whole world that recognizes these issues and only then will it start to curb. Depressions and recessions are actually good for this kind of stuff, it humbles people.

kokuaguy

Feb 17, 2009 8:55 PM CST

I'm all for Americans getting back to the land in a sustainable way ... someone is going to have to provide the food for the growing population. I guess that makes me a Greenie. Right newser editors? You just can't resist a chance to use that slur, can you? You suck. And so does Brooks.

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