The American Dream Isn't a Highrise

John P. Lambert reports:

Smart Growth" planners would have it otherwise, but American families prefer to live in low-density suburbs. The dream of owning a stand-alone house on a plot of land with both front and back yards and the white picket fence along the street lives on.

Political, planning and the media elite seek to eliminate the sprawl of grid-zoning systems this dream fosters. In their place, urban planners strive to institute schemes designed to snuff out "sprawl" in favor of high density living, building up instead of out, and a revival of core cities. But homeowners, especially young families, want their little piece of paradise out in the countryside and away from the cities.
In a piece written for the Wall Street Journal (Jan. 17) Joel Kotkin, Irvine Senior Fellow with the New America Foundation, cites polls in which 51 percent of Americans expressed a preference to live in the suburbs. Thirty-three percent opted to live even further out in the rural countryside. Only 13 percent were attracted to the allures of city living.

Amazing just 13%.I guess the anti-Wal-Mart lifestyle is up there with playing vinyl records.