Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Tipping point

Deciding where and how to live is the most personal choice we all make. With gas prices over $3 a gallon, the true cost of that choice -- the energy and transportation costs embedded in housing -- is changing the calculus. It's costing a lot more to heat and cool big homes, and $60 or $70 a week for gasolineis going to loom large in the family budget. Add that to quality of life and time spent in the car, and sprawl may soon seem like less of a bargain. Alternatives to a half-century of dispersal gain new prominence, I argue in this Op-Ed essay on the on-line journal PLANetizen: http://www.planetizen.com/node/19750