Suburbs

Village Green: The Year's Top Stories for Sustainable Communities and Smart Growth

F. Kaid Benfield | Posted 12.30.2009 | Green

Read More: Suburbs, Communities, Sustainability, Development, Neighborhoods, Global Warming, Smart Growth, Cities, Transportation, Green News

All in all, we had a mixture of good, disappointing, and great news for smart growth and sustainability in 2009. Taking a long view that considers where this issue was fifteen or even ten years ago, I remain very optimistic.

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Immigrants Prop Up Cities Hit By Population Loss

USA Today | Posted 12.09.2009 | Home

Read More: Population, Suburbs, Housing, New York City, Los Angeles, Population Loss, Tax Revenues, Immigration, Recession, Census, Unemployment, Census Data, Housing Crisis, Miami, Cities, Home News

The recession has brought a nation built on moving from place to place to a standstill not seen since World War II, but immigration continues in major...

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Can Local Farmng Save The Suburbs?

civileats.com | Forrest Fulton | Posted 12.04.2009 | Green

Read More: Suburbs, Local Food, Suburbia, Urban Planning, Urban Farming, Farmers Markets, Going Green, Green, Green Living, Green News

I believe suburban farming, like urban farming before it, can begin to bring back a more civic, sustainable economy. After urban renewal we need a sub...

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Northbrook Police's Gun Giveaway Program Under Fire

Ellen Gill | Posted 11.16.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Suburbs, Gun Laws, Chicago Suburbs, Chicago, Northbrook, Chicago Tribune, Gun Control, Chicago Police Department, Chicago News

Many residents of Northbrook and the surrounding suburbs are upset about the gun giveaway because it will put more weapons in our neighborhood.

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The Philip Roth Reader: What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been

Karen Stabiner | Posted 11.02.2009 | Books

Read More: Suburbs, American Fiction, The Breast, Goodbye Columbus, The Philip Roth Reader, Jewish, Philip Roth, Bestsellers, The Humbling, Books News

In the summer between my freshman and sophomore year in college I got a postcard from a boy in my sociology class. It read something like this: "Please, read Goodbye, Columbus right now."

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Can Wal-Mart Think Smaller?

Al Norman | Posted 10.22.2009 | Business

Read More: Smaller Supercenters, E.F. Schumacher, Merrill Lynch, Wal-Mart, Suburbs, Tesco, Retail, Tom Shoewe, Aldi, Green Business, Sprawl, Commercial Real Estate, Business News

Wal-Mart is hinting at smaller stores. The reality: land is not available anywhere for the classic Wal-Mart supercenter, weighing in at over 200,000 square feet.

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Suburban Towns Strive To Be Environmentally Aware

nytimes.com | MIREYA NAVARRO | Posted 10.12.2009 | Green

Read More: Suburbs, Environment, Energy Efficiency, Greening the Suburbs, Green Energy, Green News

Some of these towns are offering energy retrofits; others furnish free parking to fuel-efficient hybrid cars. Yet others are limiting or banning the u...

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Waste Not Want Not: City Living is the Way to a Wealthier Nation

John Petro | Posted 11.29.2009 | Green

Read More: Suburbs, Automobiles, The American Dream, Mass Transit, Green Metropolis, Zoning, David Owen, Ed Glaeser, New York City, Kaid Benfield, Density, Transit-Oriented-Development, Houston, Smart Growth, Cities, Mortgage Interest Deduction, Green News

To reduce the country's excessive energy consumption, we need to make our new and existing suburbs more like cities. This means embracing the principles of smart growth and transit-oriented development.

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The Great Divide: Swimming Against the Tide in Suburbia

Tina Traster | Posted 09.12.2009 | Living

Read More: Unique, Suburbs, Living in Suburbia, Suburbia, Kids, Suburban, Uniformity, City, Parenting, Tina Traster, Urban, City Living, Living News

Not playing by the rules is dicey in suburbia where children are raised in a culture of uniformity. I don't let my daughter go to birthday parties at Chuck E. Cheese or eat cafeteria school food or watch television during the week. This makes her different. This makes us different.

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The End of the Age of Oil: Will It Be a Soft or Hard Landing?

Anis Shivani | Posted 08.15.2009 | Business

Reading Steiner's $20 Per Gallon makes us realize how contingent our way of life is, and how uncertain its future prospects are.

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Field of Dreams: Organic Gardens Planted To Lure Homebuyers

nytimes.com | ALEC APPELBAUM | Posted 08.01.2009 | Green

Read More: House, Suburbs, Subdivision, Suburbia, Organic Garden, Home Owner, Swimming Pools, Homebuyer, Home, Green News

From Vermont to central California, developers are creating subdivisions around organic farms to attract buyers. If you plant it, these developers bel...

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Curbing Our Enthusiasm for Perfect Lawns

Juli Charkes | Posted 07.25.2009 | Green

Read More: Suburbs, Fertilizer, Environmentalism, Westchester, Lawn, Lawn Chemicals, Chemicals, Green News

The need to create a thick mat of civilized green has come at a cost. American soil has become a de-facto dumping ground for chemicals that threaten our health.

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Revive U.S. Housing by Killing Cars and 'Spurbs'

John F. Wasik | Posted 07.25.2009 | Politics

Read More: Suburbs, Housing Crisis, Cul-De-Sac Syndrome, Foreclosure News, Politics News

If U.S. housing is going to rebound long-term, we need to vanquish the car and stop encouraging sprawl.

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Financial Crisis Spawns "Suburban Survivalists"

AP | GILLIAN FLACCUS | Posted 06.26.2009 | Living

Read More: Suburban Survivalists, Suburbs, Food Hoarding, Hoarding, Economic Crisis, Financial Crisis, Joblessness, Survival, Living News

SAN DIEGO — Six months ago, Jim Wiseman didn't even have a spare nutrition bar in his kitchen cabinet. Now, the 54-year-old businessman and fat...

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So Cal Chronicles Suburban-Style

Jane Minogue | Posted 06.06.2009 | Style

Read More: Suburbs, Elderly, Women's Rights, Widowhood, Medieval, Suburbia, Magna Carta, Alcoholism, Racism, Widows, Style News

At the checkout in front of me was a frail, elderly lady in a gray sweat suit. Her liver-spotted hands shook as she put 2 jugs of wine onto the counter. One red, one white. Her drugs of choice.

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Is America's Love Affair With The "Exburbs" Over?

Reuters | Posted 05.10.2009 | Business

Read More: Suburbs, Exurbs, Real Estate, America, Business News

Jean Bell didn't plan to take care of her neighbor's lawn when she moved to this cluster of brick townhouses hard by the freeway. But the house next ...

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The Un-Malling of America

Bob Giloth | Posted 05.01.2009 | Business

Read More: Suburbs, U.S. Economy, Poverty, Economics, Business, Capitalism, Economy, Business News

"More than 400 of the 2,000 largest malls in the U.S.have closed in the past two years...[I]n the past 12 months, retail sales have dropped an unprece...

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Barack Obama and the American Dream

Lauri Lyons | Posted 03.01.2009 | Politics

Read More: John F. Kennedy, Suburbs, Europe, Sweden, Natural Disasters, Civil Rights Act, Presidential Election 2008, President Lyndon Johnson, America, First Black President, Black History Month, New Black Panther Party, Change, Change in America, White Flight, Malcolm X, Racism, Jfk, Nigeria, Nation of Islam, Fela Kuti, R&b, Terrorism, Washington D.C., Ethnic Minorities, Black President T-Shirt, Time Magazine, American Dream, Barack Obama, Lauri Lyons, Election, Militancy, Lyndon B. Johnson, The Beatles, Democratic Nomination, Kenya, Million Man March, Minorities, President Obama, Iowa Caucus, Economic Depression, Affirmative Action, Reparations, Busing, Inauguration, Slavery, Justice, African Americans, "I Have a Dream" Speech, Yes We Can, Equality, Zimbabwe, Africa, Black President, War, Black Panther Party, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Democracy, United States, Dwayne Rodgers, France, Jim Crow, Corporate America, Segregation, Civil Rights Movement, Higher Education, Shepard Fairey, President George W. Bush, Robert Kennedy, Post-Racial, Selma Alabama, Michelle Obama, Obama Family, The Movement, Lauren Erickson, March on Washington, Flag International, Video, Politics News

The past four decades have been a mixture of social growing pains and progress. Even with that said, most people never believed that a Black man would become the President.

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Who Says You Can't Go Home?

Carey Polis | Posted 01.13.2009 | Living

Read More: Suburbs, Quarterlife, College, Boomerang Generation, Quarterlife Crisis, Post-Grad, Generation Y, Parents, Generation Gap, Living News

I know very few people who are truly happy with their post-college lives. But, as much as I want to conveniently use the term "quarterlife crisis," it's not what's going on.

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GOP: Imploding, Meaningless, and Run by Crazies, But not Dead

Paul Jenkins | Posted 01.07.2009 | Politics

Read More: Suburbs, Proposition 8, Latinos, Atlanta, District of Columbia, Chicago, Connecticut, Oregon, Colorado, Missouri, Same-Sex Marriage, Nevada, Virginia, Montana, New Mexico, Margaret Thatcher, West, Walnut Creek, Mississippi, Republican Party, Detroit, African-American Issues, Kansas, North Carolina, Abortion, Election 2008 Coverage, Citigroup, Alaska, Alabama, Congress, Barack Obama, Idaho, New York, Midwest, Bill Clinton, South, Great Britain, Wyoming, David Cameron, Utah, Hawaii, Nebraska, United Kingdom, Washington, Immigration, Iraq, Arizona, Democratic Party, Dallas, Maine, New Hampshire, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Houston, Long Island, New England, Philadelphia, John McCain, Contra Costa, Peggy Noonan, Louisiana, Chris Shays, Hispanic Issues, Asian-Americans, Ross Perot, Georgia, Environment, San Francisco, Gay Issues, English-Only, Calfironia, Politics News

Beyond its regional concentration, the Republican Party's face is from another time. Indeed, nearly half of the Republican caucus is composed of Southern white men.

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Revolutionary Road's Not So Revolutionary: But Thanks to Leo and Kate, It's Worth the Watch

Michael Russnow | Posted 01.03.2009 | Entertainment

Revolutionary Road plods ever forward to the final fade out, but it still encompasses some wonderful moments and makes us look forward to the next pairing of Leo and Kate.

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Poverty Spreading To The Suburbs

Reuters | Posted 12.29.2008 | Business

Read More: Suburbs, US Economy, Poverty, Suburbs Poverty, Business News

Poverty in the United States is spreading from rural and inner-city areas to the suburbs, according a study, a situation that can worsen as the econom...

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Permaculture: Homegrown Independence

Anthony Anderson | Posted 10.11.2008 | Green

Read More: Composting, Organic Farming, Locavore, Permaculture, Green Living, Fruit Trees, Suburbs, Farming, Sustainable Food, Sustainability, Green News

Do we like the idea of independence, but how dependent are we on cheap oil, cheap and clean water, and food grown by strangers shipped from thousands of miles away?

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City Mouse, Country Mouse: Who Spends More?

Maura Judkis | Posted 09.21.2008 | Green

Read More: Suburbs, Walkable Cities, Green Living, Housing, Saving Money, Green Cities, Urban Planning, Public Transportation, Green News

If you're searching for a house, the tool could be a good way for you to find the ideal combination of affordability and convenience.

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Very Smart Growth

Jared Seeger | Posted 08.09.2008 | Green

Read More: Suburbs, Gas Prices, Making Cities Sustainable, Green, Walkable Cities, Green Living, Green Cities, Energy Policy, Smart Growth, Green News

When it comes to choosing places to live, many of us don't seem to listen to our inner monologue.

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