Via Matt Y., “The American Dream News” responds to Christopher Leinberger, an academic who (in The Atlantic, among other places) has predicted the death of the suburbs; AmDreamNews ridicules this as (might) be apropos, but goes a little bit too far, I think, in proclaiming that “we will get over the high prices of energy, or we will adapt to them.”

All depends on where your particular suburb is, of course.

If you live in East Hempfield and work in Lancaster, then sure - the price of gas isn’t a big deal. If you live in Lancaster and commute daily to Philadelphia it is - so maybe you take Amtrak.

If you live in the hinterlands of southern California and commute even further to get to L.A., I don’t know what you do. You find a new job closer to home, maybe; you maybe take a pay cut in order to spend less on gas. And you’re pretty resentful about that, because your decision to move so far out in the first place was predicated not just on the higher cost of housing closer in, but by the fact that gas was cheap; whatever you spent on that gas, you saved in terms of housing costs. But now that the cost of gas has doubled in just a few years, the terms of that deal are no longer operative.

Then we get to this:

Look at the photo above.  Those are the vehicles of Everyday Americans who are pursuing their dreams.  Those dreams will not disappear simply because of high gas prices, and it’s suburban housing and suburban life that give us the best opportunity to pursue those dreams.

The photo:

No offense to those who live here, but that’s no dream. It’s more like a parody of surburbia. Who dreams of vast tracts of vinyl-sided, beige-colored housing that all looks exactly the same?

I remember the days of lampooning the homes built along Delp Road between Fruitville and Lititz pikes as “Smurf village.” This is Smurf village on steroids.

But what were the housing choices of those residing therein? As a born-and-bred suburbanite, I too doubt that the suburbs are going to vanish and shrink, but I do think they’re going to have to be designed better in a lot of different ways. People want a few feet between themselves and their neighbors, and a backyard for the kids to run in; but I suspect people want a little character in their neighborhoods, too; and of course they want affordability.

If affordability (in terms of housing) can’t be found closer to where the jobs are, then peoople will continue to flee to the suburbs and exurbs where they can buy more house for less money. It’s just that, with gas at $4 per gallon, the vaulted ceilings and two-story foyers suddenly seem less of an imperative than maybe a slightly smaller place, a little closer to where you punch the clock.