The Washington Post speaks with Leigh Gallagher, author the new book “The End of the Suburbs”, about the decline of America's suburbs, models for suburban reinvention, and the correlation between neighborhood form and health and happiness.
"The suburbs were a great idea that worked really well for a long time, but they overshot their mandate," says Gallagher in summarizing the central thrust of her new book.
"We supersized everything in a way that led many people to live far away from where they needed to be and far away from their neighbors, and that has far-reaching implications, no pun intended. People have turned away from that kind of living. Add in the demographic forces that are reshaping our whole population, and the result is a significant shift. Census data shows that outward growth is slowing and inward growth is speeding up."
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