Here's a talk by James Howard Kunstler, a big anti-suburbia activist, that I think speaks a lot to what we're trying to do here in downtown and with urban revival: TED | Talks | James Howard Kunstler: The tragedy of suburbia (video) (http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/121)

His style is a tad more abrasive than I would like, but I think he's got some good points. Driving down I-35 is downright depressing, and its stuff like this that we need to address. I'm just curious what everyone else thinks of this kind of subject and how it applies to us.

*Please note that he does use some inappropriate language, so you might not want to watch the video near your kids!

I like how almost all of the Chamber of Commerce live in Edmond, LOL!

I agree with Kunstler's ideas, but I'm old enough to remember when OKC still resembled the urban ideal he promotes. I don't know how you sell this to the twenty-something mall zombie who logs most of his or her SUV mileage circling the parking lot looking for a close-in space, and has never known it to be any other way.

Incidentally, someone gave a talk similar to this at the Mayor's Development Round Table a couple of years ago. In fact, it was so similar I wonder if he didn't crib some of it from Kunstler's presentation.