The 100K House: Green Building On A Budget
There has been much exert pressure recently about the changes occurring in American suburbs in comeback to rising energy prices and the foreclosure crisis. The New York Times has discussed the d of “exurbs,” commuter suburbs that are built a pithy distance from any urban core, and Christopher Leinberger of the Atlantic Monthly has gone as far as to rank comparison to the “white flight” of the 1960s, arguing that suburban subdivisions wishes become the urban slum of the future. For more on changes in the suburbs, skim NuWire’s take on the death of suburbia. While the changes may not be indubitably that drastic, there is a wellspring of demographic statistics to suggest that consumer preferences are beginning to smock away from the suburbs and back toward rich density, walkable urban areas.
For nearly 60 years the dominant trend in the United States has been away from urban areas. Cheaply energy and the American passion for the automobile made suburban living an leisurely and appealing alternative to living in the overcrowded and polluted cities of prop-World War II America. Yet the high prices of energy possess exposed the glaring inadequacies ("What do you mean it costs $75 to occupy my Buick?") of a suburban infrastructure built for the car. Consumer preferences are already inception to lean toward greener and more energy thrifty products; just try finding a Prius right now.
Demographics wishes also play a major role in shifting to a more urban unborn. As Christopher Leinberger in his Atlantic Monthly article said:
“When the Newborn Boomers were young, families with children made up more than half of all households;...
