Visionary images of resilient cities that save the US, or even the world, from climate change. Of downtowns transformed by technology into smart ecotopias. Of urban oases that sprout from scratch in the deserts of the Southwest or the Middle East or Mars.
The current cascade of proposals for a green future rooted in our cities—some with practical elements, others pure fantasy—share a myopic take on urbanism. The visions don’t extend far enough to see suburbia as the site of our best option (and undoubtedly the only affordable one) for the conversion of “urban” America from today’s fragmented, polluted, degraded landscape into a renewable environment.
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