Next Gen Notables: Subverting Suburbia

Could smarter, community-oriented subdivisions be created with minimal interventions?

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Every Thursday we’re posting excerpts from notable 2009 Next Generation proposals that didn’t quite make the final selection featured in the May issue of the magazine. (OK, so this week we’re a day behind.)  Today’s proposal: Subverting Suburbia, a holistic approach to decreasing Americans’ resource consumption through smarter, community-oriented subdivisions. How would it work?

The proposal’s authors–Sam Schonzeit, John Hart Asher, and J. Parker Williams–write that rezoning, a new planted landscape, and minimal architectural interventions could significantly reduce suburban residents’ reliance on gasoline, electricity, and irrigation. And while they readily admit that their general idea is nothing new–New Urbanism, anyone?–the authors argue that their pragmatic focus on do-able changes to existing subdivisions sets the idea apart.

Intrigued? Read more from the proposal over on our Next Generation site. Have a suggestion for implementing or adapting this idea? Leave your feedback in the comments form below.

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