Top Suburban Poverty Stories This Week
Here's what got the most reads on our site this week:
The Greatest Social Challenge of our Generation
by Charles Marohn, August 15, 2016
Ponder what life will be like following another decade or two of inversion, with society’s arrangements -- no longer able to be propped up by an expanding state. Consider an America where the affluent inhabit our core cities and the poor are left behind on our suburbanized outskirts.
The Trajectory of Suburban Poverty
by Johnny Sanphillippo, August 16, 2016
Our de facto national housing policy of drive-till-you-qualify suburban development works well enough for people with an education and a professional salary. It fails the working class entirely and that’s by design.
A Suburban Poverty Boomtown: Lehigh Acres, Florida
by Daniel Herriges, August 17, 2016
This suburb is a growing place, but it's not a successful place. It has almost no chance of becoming fiscally productive, environmentally sustainable, or a prosperous community full of upwardly mobile individuals and families. It risks becoming, instead, an increasingly isolating place full of people who are cut off from the economic mainstream. (This essay is a follow-up to Daniel's popular essay, "Suburban Poverty: Hiding in Plain Sight," published earlier this year.)
SUBURBAN POVERTY MEETS HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATIONS
by Nate Hood, August 16, 2016
What will happen to Homeowner's Associations in an America with increasing suburban poverty? It will be messy.
How Suburban Poverty Affects Seniors
by Andrew Price, August 15, 2016
Next time you want to label a town as 'family oriented' - don't just think about the young and middle-aged people that are able to depend on an automobile at a moment's notice. Ask yourself, would your 13 year old kid or elderly grandma with a walker have their freedom and be happy there?
Where Every Citizen's Heart Can Sing
by Sarah Kobos, August 18, 2016
What if our goal wasn’t to build the most stuff in the shortest amount of time for the least amount of money? What if, instead, our goal was to create places of lasting beauty where, every day, our souls could be nourished by our surroundings?
Bonus: The following suburban-related piece from 2015 was shared on our social media sites and generated a ton of new traffic.
A Suburban Engagement (Photoshoot)
by Nate Hood, August 4, 2015
There is a reason no one takes engagement photos in the subdivision; they can be places not worth caring about. We wouldn't have been criticized if it was.
(Top photo by Johnny Sanphillippo)