This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.

The Decline And Fall Of Suburbia

Tyler Durden's picture


As Arch Daily notes, for decades the suburbs and the American Dream went hand-in-hand but the age-of-sprawl is ending; people are leaving the suburbs and once again flocking to cities in search of a better way of life. Whether Suburbia can be saved or not, this useful infographic looks at the key factors (from Poverty to Transportation costs to Generation Y's preferences) with a view to reinventing Suburbia as a sustainable alternative to urban life.

(h/t Greg Fielding)


- advertisements -

Comment viewing options

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 22:37 | 2387255 Caviar Emptor
Caviar Emptor's picture

"They threaten our way of life" - Irony: the threat came from within. 

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 22:42 | 2387271 knukles
knukles's picture

As did the destruction.

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 22:53 | 2387294 The Big Ching-aso
The Big Ching-aso's picture



Great.   All those suburbo Stepford Wives will be moving back into decaying cities.  

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:03 | 2387322 Caviar Emptor
Caviar Emptor's picture

Think again.

‘Made’ in China: The Millennials Look East for Jobs

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:16 | 2387339 The Big Ching-aso
The Big Ching-aso's picture



We can't all become Jim Rogers'.  Me thinks pretty soon round-eyes are gonna get booted the way we're pissing off everybody that even begins to look semi-Chinese.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 00:16 | 2387392 Ahmeexnal
Ahmeexnal's picture

Apple Inc. preparing for nationwide riots:

Apple closed a number of U.S. retail stores last week, and is closing another half dozen more this week for undisclosed renovations. All of the stores closing are street-level locations and the most likely reason is to retrofit the stores with Apple's new security grate system.


False flag attack imminent in Chicago, as evacuation plans are leaked:


UK in freefall collapse:

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 01:05 | 2387465 Uber Vandal
Tue, 05/01/2012 - 02:02 | 2387497 AldousHuxley
AldousHuxley's picture

suburbs are falling out for now.


the next ponzi level of American youth can't afford them yet.

No Job,  Student loans means delayed marriage, child raising and suburbian home. #1 need for suburb is for good school districts.


But suburb home is a requirement in US if you want non-inner city schools filled with gangster blacks and illegals and don't want to fork over $35,000/year after tax income for private school for 2 kids.


But America is becoming stagnant like Europe. Kid will simply inherit their parents homes and position in life then raise their family there. at least one kid will be lucky.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 03:09 | 2387525 TwoShortPlanks
TwoShortPlanks's picture

The answer is simple; home prices will continue to fall until a true clearing price is found...and if the next Gen is too poor, then the clearing price will be lower...and since the single greatest asset of the middle class is home ownership, then it's middle class extinction; bye-bye McMansions!

Gen Y are the most illequiped generation to tackle the most difficult period in modern history. They will not [cannot] rise to the challenge collectively. 90% of Gen Y will be poor, large percentages of Gen Y will run back to Mum and Dad's basement to play Counter Strike and Guitar Hero all night long, leaving a glut of unoccupied homes on the market. Rental prices will maintain or contract and property prices will continue to decline until/unless Gen Z come of age (Gen Z being far more savy).

I say, kill Gen Y before they kill us!

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 03:20 | 2387545 Seer
Seer's picture

Home prices are one thing, energy another.  It's the later that will control what happens.  I'm not betting that energy will become cheap again.

The overwhelming majority of humans live in multi-generational facilities/homes their entire lives.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 07:05 | 2387632 j0nx
j0nx's picture

I wouldn't count gen y out just yet. The ones I know have all been pretty good kids. They have just been raised in an age of socialism where political correctness and multi-culturalism was shoved down their throats. Once they shed those two ideas as unworkable then they will rise to the occasion.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 07:23 | 2387656 PirdOfBrey
PirdOfBrey's picture

Presumably by "rise to the occasion" you mean "start consuming unsustainably"?

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 09:24 | 2387859 JimBowie1958
JimBowie1958's picture

Orrr,....maybe he means that they will just start to think for themselves, dude.

Wed, 05/02/2012 - 06:15 | 2390501 matrix2012
matrix2012's picture

Orrr,....maybe he means that they should clean up all the burdens!!! "survival of the fittest"

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 08:18 | 2387719 False Capital
False Capital's picture

I would say a lot of them already have. Ron Paul is most popular in that age group. The Internet Reformation is here, and Gen Y are the most internet savvy.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 14:45 | 2388872 msamour
msamour's picture

Half the GenX'ers I know already do that. Heck, I live with my brother, and my mother because we save on rent and expenses that way. Do I like it, no, but that is how it works now. After a collapse of anykind, you want to be near your family anyways. Not many people will make it Mad max style.

You are about one generation too late.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 06:47 | 2387619 AnAnonymous
AnAnonymous's picture


Actually, social mobility is better in Europe than in the US (see this site for articles)

But the point was about a possible new ethnic cleansing going on in the US.

It is somehow preposterous to think that in case of inner city growing favouring for US citizen indo europeans living in the US, they will not push away blacks, latinos and the rest to take the place.

US citizen nature at work.

Who knows, maybe, in a few decades, all those surburb areas will be inhabit by negroes, latinos and the rest while density of energy forcing the deal, inner cities, the new compound of activity center, will be home to Indo Europeans.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 07:02 | 2387629 TheFourthStooge-ing
TheFourthStooge-ing's picture

AnAnonymous said:


Yes, and that's because the middle class is king in US of A, right?


I don't think that's the point at all. Nevertheless, since yesterday was "praise US citizenism day" for you, it is not a surprise that you make today "condemn US sitizenism day". Very Chinese citizenism flip-floppish.


Tue, 05/01/2012 - 08:02 | 2387693 Chuck Walla
Chuck Walla's picture

Suburbs only exist due to cheap gasoline. Its hard to live on a shit job in LA while living out in Riverside when gas is $5+.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 09:31 | 2387869 roadhazard
roadhazard's picture

High gas, cheap labor and no equity. Goodbye America.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 09:21 | 2387854 JimBowie1958
JimBowie1958's picture


No wories; the feds have been pumping out economic subclass people with high crime rates and thuggery to the suburbs for the last fifteen years now or so.

You cant escape it anywhere.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 06:32 | 2387602 rufusbird
rufusbird's picture

RE: Troops in the neighborhood article link...

tried above link at 3:30 am us time. Got this message...


Kind of surprised to get this in the middle of the night. Interesting.

Found the same article somewhere else...

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:17 | 2387349 Vampyroteuthis ...
Vampyroteuthis infernalis's picture

Those Millennials are going to be disappointed when no one in China hires them.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 06:54 | 2387623 AnAnonymous
AnAnonymous's picture


I checked the article in case but deep inside, I knew the answer already.

The article speaks about Asia which is not sumed up to China.

First pic, an indo european girl working in South Korea.

It was obvious that US citizens have been triggering a new wave of colonization.

Good luck to the locals as US citizens will want the best the country can offer to them and will speed up the spread of US citizenism all around.

It is the way it is.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 07:11 | 2387640 TheFourthStooge-ing
TheFourthStooge-ing's picture

AnAnonymous said:


You always do, don't you? But hey, Chinese citizenism Zhou Enlaiism always knows.


Not yet, anyway, not until the Great Blobbing Up Forward of Chinese citizenism has subsumed all of Asia. Chinese citizenism up-blobbery is Sun Yat-sensational.

First pic, an indo european girl working in South Korea.

...working for a blobbed up Chinese citizenism enterprise.


It is obvious that proper Chinese citizenism doctrine is to blame a blobbing up Chinese citizenism colonization of British Columbia on US citizenism.

Very convenient, if one buys the story being sold here...


Tue, 05/01/2012 - 02:59 | 2387530 Troy Ounce
Troy Ounce's picture



American wives are lousy maids.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 07:10 | 2387636 j0nx
j0nx's picture

American wives are lousy wives. Fixed.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 07:30 | 2387658 ihedgemyhedges
ihedgemyhedges's picture

Let me combo those two posts: If husbands laid the maid, the wives grab knives.  Lil' poetry needed methinks......

On a note of truth, my two best friends are docs.  Their wives are "stay at home moms."  One has 3 young kids, one has two.  BOTH of their wives have a nanny, a housekeeper and a lady who cooks meals twice per week.  "Stay at home?"  MY ASS.  They eat lunch at the country club, play tennis, shop at their favorite boutique stores, hold "book clubs" (where they bitch about their husbands I'm sure while sipping Chardonnay), etc etc.  And at night, they still claim to be "exhausted" from their day.  One of my friends called BS on his wife about a year ago after taking over the checking account and seeing where the money was going.  Let's just say the amount of ass he gets now has decreased...........

You wanna know why our children are becoming more spoiled and spoiled and get pissed off when they don't get the new iPad on the day it comes out?????????????  Wanna know why more and more and more docs/successful biz owners are getting divorced???  EZ.  Women become spoiled, children become spoiled, men wake up to it all, their princess has to become a PRODUCTIVE part of the household, and they then hold contempt against their husband for asking them to do their part.

The suburbs are just as big of a disaster for the family as are the urban areas........too many princesses, not enough teammates.......

Oh, divorce papers are pending on one of my friends.........she's gonna take half his shit, custody of the kids and then go look for the next sucker.......I told him that when it's done he needs to find a woman half his age and train her right.....but I didn't say anything about marrying her........

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 07:42 | 2387677 j0nx
j0nx's picture

Agreed. I used to date a woman who is now married to a lawyer and I am a friend of hers on facebook. She lives in a very ritzy neighborhood in a nice house, has two kids and is a stay at home mom. She has a nanny too. One day she went on a facebook rant about how her husband doesn't want to help with the kids when he gets home at night. The week before she was complaining that he works 7 days a week, 12+ hours a day. He's a fucking real estate lawyer and his business is booming. The poor guy's health is precarious, he's fat as a hog now and basically looks like shit from the stress. I told her on facebook that he's probably too tired to help at night after working 70+ hours a week supporting her and the kids and paying for the nanny to do her fucking job. Oh boy all the hens came out of the woodwork then to bark at me. Needless to say I unfriended her dumb ass after that. Tired of hearing her bitch about her husband on a public forum after he works his ass off to support her and the kids. I'm 'thinking' about getting married soon because my fiance is pregnant with our first child. I love her to death but she's about as least domesticated as you can get. She doesn't cook or clean, shows no initiative to do either and basically I think if it weren't for me then we'd be ordering takeout every night and living in filth. I told her unequivocally that if she stays at home then her job is to take care of the baby and the house and that my ass is going to be PISSED if I come home and that shit isn't done. I'm basically a great guy who is a good provider, good natured and funny but you want to see me pissed is when I come home and the kid is crawling around with a soiled diaper in a dirty home with no food on the table and you're a stay at home caregiver.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 08:04 | 2387695 Momauguin Joe
Momauguin Joe's picture

DON'T DO IT!  Seriously. The bitch thinks she has you by the balls now being pregnant. If she doesn't do anything to impress you now, just wait until you're married.  Remember Schopenhauer's warning and take heed.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 08:21 | 2387720 ihedgemyhedges
ihedgemyhedges's picture

Concur.  Love the child, pay child support.  Although the trap has been baited, you haven't been caught yet.  But if you say "I do", when that piece of paper is filed at the courthouse, the game changes...............Same thing happened to my brother.  Lasted 17 months.............

Wed, 05/02/2012 - 18:50 | 2392445 Sokhmate
Sokhmate's picture

I so fucking second Momauguin Joe's DON'T DO IT, so fucking much. If you are insane enough to get legally married, get an airtight, bunker-grade prenuptial agreement that in case of divorce you get to keep your wealth. Blink, and raped you will be. The dopamine-, oxytocin-, and other hormonalShit-induced euphoria will die off in as little as one year.

I am thinking about getting my amygdala rooted and getting it replaced with a gummybear.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 11:31 | 2388283 kekekekekekeke
kekekekekekeke's picture

I hope to God she doesn't marry you

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 14:54 | 2388907 msamour
msamour's picture

Yeah man, I've seen it many times. I would cut my loses now, and deal with a angry kid in about 10 years or so. There is no point you being miserable your entire life because of a deadbeat woman. It's not worth it. Women in North America are now tainted with all the poison from the 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's. They have become addicted to finding men to take care of them, and not lifting a finger. Cut off the wound before it festers. My .002$!

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 18:30 | 2389548 Cathartes Aura
Cathartes Aura's picture

omg dudes!! you know the answer to this, why suffer!!

get yerself a third world woman to be your maid & sex slave!! there are so many queuing up for the privilege of being your personal keeper!!

dudes here talk about it all the time, learn from their wisdom - if you want a maid, and want to fuck her - get one who's in the market for you!!



Tue, 05/01/2012 - 11:32 | 2388290 kekekekekekeke
kekekekekekeke's picture

you angry neckbeards are something else, no wonder you can't land anyone decent


cooking/cleaning/working/being an awesome lover is cake to me but I'm not going to waste it on some loser ingrate

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 14:56 | 2388909 msamour
msamour's picture

Please don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out...

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 06:00 | 2387594 onthesquare
onthesquare's picture


Tue, 05/01/2012 - 08:46 | 2387772 midtowng
midtowng's picture

Fuck suburbs

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 22:37 | 2387259 Spastica Rex
Spastica Rex's picture

Cool. How would suburbs be "retrofitted?"

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 22:51 | 2387291 Agent P
Agent P's picture

Build skyscrapers and turn them into cities.

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 22:57 | 2387306 The Big Ching-aso
The Big Ching-aso's picture



Hey just what we need.   More rats jammed together in the nuthouse squirrel cage.

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:43 | 2387389 Ahmeexnal
Ahmeexnal's picture

FEMA camps.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 02:15 | 2387505 AldousHuxley
AldousHuxley's picture

FEMA camps = parking lot at Walmart.


distribution logistics is already taken care of and Walmart has inventory of food stuff that will stay preserved for years.


But I hear it in the streets that Dollar General is the new Walmart.

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 22:56 | 2387301 spanish inquisition
spanish inquisition's picture

Like they were in the cities. Well designed McMansions will become Mc Duplexes and McTriplexes.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 00:31 | 2387412 The Big Ching-aso
The Big Ching-aso's picture



Ex-surburbanites in droves moving to the big cities in big Suburbans.   It's gonna be just swell.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 07:32 | 2387666 Backspin
Backspin's picture

Of course, they'll move in droves.  It couldn't possibly be gradual.  And of course they will all drive suburbans.  Makes perfect sense.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 10:44 | 2388106 The Big Ching-aso
The Big Ching-aso's picture



It's called exagerated sarcasm vs underated sarcasm which still equals sarcasm. 

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 03:18 | 2387544 TwoShortPlanks
TwoShortPlanks's picture

@Spanish...I reckon you've got something there!

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 08:16 | 2387717 GOSPLAN HERO
GOSPLAN HERO's picture

McBoarding house.

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:19 | 2387352 maximin thrax
maximin thrax's picture

First thing, at least in my area, would be to ease zoning to allow for more kinds of workplaces to exist in and around the suburbs to shorten drive time and distance to work. Suburbs would tend to densify around these areas. Instead, our city leaders want everything civic, institutional, corporate and recreational downtown in just a few city blocks. Shopping moved to the suburbs decades ago, following the outward migration. Work opportunities need to do the same.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 18:43 | 2389571 Cathartes Aura
Cathartes Aura's picture

couldn't agree more - this "zoning" as a control of populations has passed its sell-by date - used as a way to push people out of cities to suburbia, with identi-kit boxy homes, each requiring the appliances of maintenance (washer, dryer, stove, fridge, garage full of noisy yard tools and man-toys), breeding more consumers, magazines to direct the herd in "decorating" and home "style" - it's out of control, and out of date!

re-zone those old town streets to allow for people living above the shops they keep - fk the big box stores and their massive parking lots of uselessness - let people live in structures AS THEY EXIST, in a creative way - not everyone wants to live in the pre-ordained home-box - I loathe the way a "living room" has designated purposes in un-imaginative minds, bedrooms all crowded near each other, etc.

people could use their imaginations if only it wasn't OUTLAWED.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 01:12 | 2387468 Andrew G
Andrew G's picture

Dmitry Orlov's much more realistic vision: since no one will have jobs soon, we can convert office buildings to residential space (much better at energy conservation) while suburban houses can be converted to green houses

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 03:21 | 2387546 Lednbrass
Lednbrass's picture

Most major cities had large areas of housing exactly as you describe- large buildings full of small living spaces to house people with minimal or no income.

We called them "inner city housing projects".

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 06:22 | 2387601 onthesquare
onthesquare's picture

using the wood from the abandoned house around the corner to cook food.  Keeping the stray cat population down.  Dogs take care of themselves and will eat anything then become the late winter meal.

Pilferring other suberban areas and killing off their people.  The strongest becomes the leader.

We would be like tribes and do like the American Indians before whity came along. 

that is 1 scenario

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 22:40 | 2387267 mjk0259
mjk0259's picture

The dumpsters are a lot closer together in cities.

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:14 | 2387309 Tsunami Wave
Tsunami Wave's picture

Very important to remember. Especially if you don't have anything to barter with for food ;)

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:09 | 2387333 israhole
israhole's picture


Mon, 04/30/2012 - 22:54 | 2387268 Manthong
Manthong's picture

Section 8 housing..  I have the clipping from 1994 WSJ.. A few saw it coming.  That's when the homelessness, gang's and the drugs really fired up in suburban hometown America.  


..couldn't find a link to the actual article, just a reference.

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:10 | 2387338 narnia
narnia's picture

Suburbia is a product of public education.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 01:21 | 2387473 Bizaro World
Bizaro World's picture

False fears of Global Cooling, er....Warming, er....I mean climate change are the products of public propaganda, er...public education.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 02:10 | 2387482 narnia
narnia's picture

the School District is probably the most important factor in choosing to live in a suburb


Tue, 05/01/2012 - 02:16 | 2387506 Bizaro World
Bizaro World's picture

I no longer have faith in public indoctrination....I mean public education. The district was not a determining factor. The crime, depravity, lack of space, lack of access to the outdoors, lack of the basic freedom to take a piss in my backyard if and when I desire was more important.

Children may not receive sex Ed in third grade or gender preference awareness training in charter/magnet/home schooling but they might have a shot at missing revisionist history. But this is not a public education post.

The big cities will experience, and have been experiencing, increased crime. Desperate people will do desperate things....especially when they are unprepared. Sadly, it will get worse before it gets better.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 02:21 | 2387510 AldousHuxley
AldousHuxley's picture

school district is the only reason because inner-city = ghetto school


Tue, 05/01/2012 - 07:15 | 2387647 j0nx
j0nx's picture

Anywhere there are blacks and mezcans in large numbers = shit schools and neighborhoods. Not racist. Fact. Choose yours accordingly. But then again I'm not saying anything that everyone doesn't already know, including the liberals who will no doubt call me racist while they are secluded in their white/asian neighborhoods and schools.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 09:37 | 2387881 JimBowie1958
JimBowie1958's picture

No, NOT a fact.

I lived in a mixed ethnicity neighborhood for 12 years and we had blacks, hispanics, asians, whites of various types and people who were not of determinable ethnicity.

We were fine. When the drug dealers tried to set up shop, we shut them down. When the gangs tried to establsih a presence we shut them down as well, etc and ALL DONE LEGALLY.

It's amazing what a community can do when people pull together.

The BIGGEST single problem was the WHITE thug underclass teens who wanted so bad to be gangsta like what they saw on the TV and in movies. Total idjits, fools and feral wastes of human sperm and their black friends along with them. But the white thugs felt they had to do more to get street cred and so were far worse.

The problems in suburbia are all about money, organized response and keeping middle class people working together to defend their own interests and not against each other.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 07:12 | 2387641 Arnold Ziffel
Arnold Ziffel's picture

Many zero down house owners don't pay their mortgage, don't mow their lawn and fail to maintain their huses in many cases. Add to that many of these houses are rentals, and you have the ingredients of "Zero Down Slums."


The Suburban Slum Era Has Arrived

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 22:42 | 2387273 Seasmoke
Seasmoke's picture

With technology the suburbs should benefit from working at home

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:26 | 2387360 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

Yeah...I do seismic retrofits out back.


Tue, 05/01/2012 - 08:11 | 2387710 krispkritter
krispkritter's picture

Speaking of seismic, you gotta read this for a face palm moment.

I'm not sure but I don't think the planet can take much more of this 'Greening'. Sooner or later I think somethings gonna give and it's gonna shake us off like a bad case of fleas...

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 08:38 | 2387759 DavidJ
DavidJ's picture

Let me fix that:


"With technology people in other countries should benefit from working at home"

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 22:44 | 2387275 Trimmed Hedge
Trimmed Hedge's picture

How is that a 209% increase?

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 22:56 | 2387302 memyselfiu
memyselfiu's picture

lol... i think that's been changed when you expand it

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 00:05 | 2387317 The Big Ching-aso
The Big Ching-aso's picture



Couldn't cut it in suburbs and they're gonna find out they can't cut it in the city mean-streets of Rodeo Drive either. 

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 22:46 | 2387278 Caviar Emptor
Caviar Emptor's picture

Upside: Abandoned strip malls converted to Rollerball rinks. Lots of weekend urban spectators willing to bet on who'll be the last survivor. Good beverage and popcorn sales. Lil dope too. 

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:06 | 2387326 The Big Ching-aso
The Big Ching-aso's picture



Meth kills.  Or is it math?   I forget.

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:27 | 2387363 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

"Keed spillz." - F. Freddy

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:27 | 2387361 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

Video Store -> Massage Parlor

Wed, 05/02/2012 - 04:03 | 2390436 matrix2012
matrix2012's picture

Video Store -> Massage Parlor ->Thematic Brothel ->Free Zone of All Drug Uses

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 22:46 | 2387279 yabyum
yabyum's picture

Spastica, take down 3 out of 4 homes: Instant larger lot= small farms. Make beer, chickens and fresh vegetabals. Who said the 'burbs ain't grand?

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 22:58 | 2387308 Harbanger
Harbanger's picture

It’s too much property for peons, they belong in well planned housing projects near work.  Preferably in the same building.   Farm fresh food will be distributed as needed.

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:28 | 2387366 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

Animal Farms!

Wed, 05/02/2012 - 04:07 | 2390441 matrix2012
matrix2012's picture

George Orwell

“If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever.” — George Orwell

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 22:47 | 2387282 DCFusor
DCFusor's picture

Lies, damn lies, statistics.  Read the above data carefully, and note that there are nearly twice as many in 'burbs generally as cities, then note that the rest are given in percent of who's in poverty -  - neat trick if your audience is stupid.

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:15 | 2387343 Matt
Matt's picture

apparently, lower growth in suburban population, from ~2 percent to ~0.5 percent, is a decline. I would have thought a decline means less people in the suburbs, not more. it might be a trend that eventually leads to depopulation in the suburbs, but its too early to tell.

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:42 | 2387388 CompassionateFascist
CompassionateFascist's picture

It's the cities - where dwell the ethnic group entitlements, white cosmics, and their Jewish masters - that are going to be depopulated. Very soon, via extreme violence. Survival rates among suburbanites and rurals will be considerably higher. W/in 24 hours of Ponzi Collapse, all U.S. cities will be death-traps.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 00:30 | 2387438 dark pools of soros
dark pools of soros's picture

exactly - how's that urban farming going anyone??  Mary got her potatos on the roof?

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 02:24 | 2387513 AldousHuxley
AldousHuxley's picture

they have homeless bums defecate on the urban garden for fertilizer. and you have drunks randomly eating your vegetables.


trust fund hippies claim potatos take like shit and piss this year.


Tue, 05/01/2012 - 06:38 | 2387607 onthesquare
onthesquare's picture

no country for old men.

I am thinking about Joseph Conrad's "Secret Agent".  ...madness and despair are a force!

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 06:59 | 2387627 AnAnonymous
AnAnonymous's picture

That is a good one.

Chemical Ali anyone? Funny how the high profile propaganist gets his ass handed by your common typical US citizen.

US citizens are out of league. Dont play them.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 07:13 | 2387642 TheFourthStooge-ing
TheFourthStooge-ing's picture

If you have a point, please feel free to make it.


Mon, 04/30/2012 - 22:51 | 2387287 Sophist Economicus
Sophist Economicus's picture

I live in the country, but the suburbs were encroaching.   Glad to see those city slickers going back from whence they came.


We won't miss ya out here...And no, deer don't bite people and yes we kill them and gut them ourselves....

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 03:24 | 2387547 Lednbrass
Lednbrass's picture

If the suburbs are encroaching, you arent far enough out.

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 22:53 | 2387292 silverdragon
silverdragon's picture

Moving to the city reduces self sufficiency and increased dependence. Probably not a good idea.

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 22:59 | 2387312 tmosley
tmosley's picture

But at the same time, it reduces overall consumption.

Of course, government increases overall consumption an order of magnitude more, and rural homesteads do have more potential to be self sufficient, and can perhaps more easily access system D.

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:34 | 2387377 Calmyourself
Calmyourself's picture

"reduces overall consumption" not really Tmos you came closer to truth at least for those of us aware and thinking of the next phase in your last sentence.

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:30 | 2387372 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

Must'nt talk to the other monkeys. They'll steal our precious!

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 22:56 | 2387298 carbonmutant
carbonmutant's picture

Walkability Bitchez...

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 22:55 | 2387300 lsbumblebee
lsbumblebee's picture

So where does that leave the exburbs?

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:01 | 2387313 I am more equal...
I am more equal than others's picture

The burbs and Dan akroyd ... Funny movie.
As for the propaganda about the burbs, it is truly pathetic and just the rehash of the same poor logic that the corporate masters want you to believe. The burbs were a way to create cost effective housing. Post wwIi it was a necessity. Peak oil, blah, blah. Hindsight. Necessity will be the mother of invention.

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:02 | 2387314 Spaceman Spiff
Spaceman Spiff's picture

Actually looking at mobile home parks as an investment.   Unfortunately, a whole lot more people will need low cost housing when this shit hits.  The tenants are actually a whole lot more reliable than the Bernanke/Obama stimulated market.

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:39 | 2387370 James
James's picture

@Spaceman - Consider too that you will likely end up owning several  doublewides thru estates,foreclosures,divorces,etc.

These become yours thru past due lot rent and lawful liens



Or you get your past due rent.

Cash Cow.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 07:53 | 2387687 hardcleareye
hardcleareye's picture

They don't age gracefully and are a pain in the ass to remove and get rid of, you can't just take them to the land fill.  So budget for removal/replacement cost.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 06:43 | 2387615 onthesquare
onthesquare's picture

Mobil home parks are magnets to tornados

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:02 | 2387318 RoadKill
RoadKill's picture

In Miami the prices of NEW highend city condis are up 10% from when we bought in Nov 2011. The suburbs are split between the 10% of houses that are newish and well maintained in prime areas which are only declining moderately in price and the old forevlosed homes that are basically worthless other then as rentals to meth anf crack dealers and welfare queens

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:08 | 2387334 theTribster
theTribster's picture

Agenda 21. The ICLIC organization (think that is the acronym) is what drives Agenda 21 via funding and relationships with officials - the standard methods of corruption work well here. I looked and my county let the membership to ICLIC expire because we had someone on the board that knew all about this. It is especially bad in California. There are some good vids on YouTube that explain this in detail for those that are interested.

The plan is all inclusive and describes methods and provides prewritten legislation to get things kick started for new members, yeah they move fast. Stealing land is a very common use of Agenda 21, where they define property as being blighted which allows them to take control and ownership. There was just a case in Georgia where the town wanted a guys property so they basically tortured him for a few years before he finally dies when the house blow up! Its was on the Alex Jones show earlier this month but was also on RT, really disgusting waht they are doing.

Look up your area (township/county/??) and see if you are ICLIC members, if you are then you are pursuing Agenda 21. BTW, ICLIC provides a software package (their way in the door) that supposdly calculates a carbon footprint for the defined geography and then makes recommendations, ongoing mnonitoring, etc. All complete BS but has proven to be EXTREMELY effective in California where a measurable number of communities are under the ICLIC umbrella. Happily, the Californians are waking up and kicking these Fs out because of some very competent and committed people....there are still some out there.

NWO + Agenda 21 = More Globalist Bullshit.

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:11 | 2387340 Caviar Emptor
Caviar Emptor's picture

BofA to Cut From Elite Ranks

Amid the banking industry's relentless belt-tightening, even Bank of America Corp.'s moneymakers aren't safe.



Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:17 | 2387348 vintageyz
vintageyz's picture

Many are also moving because of shrinking social programs in rural areas.  It's easier to be on the dole in the cities where there are larger churches, social groups,  and non-profits supporting fringe causes.

Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:32 | 2387374 The Navigator
The Navigator's picture

This is what James Howard Kuntsler ( and Charles Hugh Smith (Of Two Minds) have been warning about for many years ( - when jobs are in the cities and gas goes to $6, $8, $10/gal, guess where suburban housing prices go.

Makes for interesting times.


Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:39 | 2387383 Milton Waddams
Milton Waddams's picture

Need more propaganda associating driving with 'American Ideals of Freedom and Independence' (sponsored by oil companies of course).  In fact the desire to not drive or cut back on driving should mark one as a possible terrorist.  Where are you taking your road trip to this summer, friend?  May I suggest a National Park?  Not taking a road trip this summer, you say?  That's... unfortunate.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 07:49 | 2387684 hardcleareye
hardcleareye's picture

"House Republicans are backing legislation in Congress to give the Department of Homeland Security control of more than 50 national parks and forests within 100 miles of the U.S. borders, including in Washington state."

"The National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act, sponsored by conservative Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, would give Border Patrol and Customs agents and other federal officials the right to suspend any federal law, including environmental laws, on land managed by the departments of Interior and Agriculture.

It would give Homeland Security the right to conduct any activity or construct any facility required to secure the border."


Mon, 04/30/2012 - 23:48 | 2387396 HungrySeagull
HungrySeagull's picture

There are a few who stay out in the Boonies. The Cities are going to become a bad place if not already.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 00:20 | 2387426 dark pools of soros
dark pools of soros's picture

Zheeps - that infographic mineaswell have been an ad for Facebook and you all gobbled it up..  it doesn't even make a solid case for any real declines besides some wishy wanty from Gen Y surveys

No real defining numbers of what is a suburb or exburb or high density on and on

what was the point of even posting it here?


Tue, 05/01/2012 - 00:28 | 2387436 heresy101
heresy101's picture

This is more "Smartgrowth" BS! Yes, suburbs as vast cookie cutter housing tracks lack class like many of the older suburbs, but they are far more livable and affordable than cities. I have two co-workers that found SF "the place" until they got married and had kids; then off to the East Bay. Grass, plants, Boy Scouts, a place to ride a bicycle, and dog will trump "Smartgrowth" every time! If you are young and single a big city is fun if you can afford it. Unfortunately, cities are totally unaffordable (let alone not family friendly) for most people. Finally, gasoline can be replaced by natural gas vehicles at $2/mmBTU or driving an EV or plug-in EV that is charged at night when there is excess power. This rates right up there with global warming nightmare, which Mr. Gaia (James Lovelock) now admits isn't meeting his or Al Gore's worst scenarios. "I swear the earth should be frying now".

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 01:54 | 2387488 Bizaro World
Bizaro World's picture

Agreed. But Hey, leave Al Gore out of it, he created this Internet.

Gen Y has been indoctrinated to hate fossil fuels of all kinds. why do you think there is so much propaganda touting the evils of nat gas fracking? Nat gas is the next logical step, and the US has enough for energy independence....but that is not what is wanted. Control is what is wanted. You are much easier to control when you are crowded together with 2.5M of your closest disarmed friends. Move back to the city comrade, it really is better for you there, who better to know what you want than us, and kindly relinquish your firearm, it's not needed with 2.5M of your friends, besides - we will protect you, and the vodka is practically free.

Why do you think Chicago was chosen as the upcoming location of the next mass citizen control, I mean political summit under some undisclosed terrorist threat.

Practice makes perfect comrades.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 03:33 | 2387551 Bartanist
Bartanist's picture

Why did Rahm Emanuel strong-arm his way into being the Chicago mayor? In this case it looks as if 2 + 2 = 4... and the son of the Irgun terrorist will run the FALSE FLAG  for his bathhouse buddy and their collective bosses.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 07:41 | 2387676 hardcleareye
hardcleareye's picture



Oh my.....  I am embrassed for you.... <sarc>  


You may want to read this article in the RIGZONE.  (and they too don't think much of Al Gore at this site...)



 Mark Twain

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 00:42 | 2387449 kedi
kedi's picture

The current burbs will be slums in no time. Cheaply built houses will get shabby fast and people won't have cash or incentive to keep them up. The cost of keeping the lights and heat/air on and food on the table will eat up the money. Resale value will plummet even more. They will all be underwater. The far flung infrastructure of sewer, water, electric and transportation will crumble as funds to maintain them dwindle. People are now just abandoning them. The properties being looted, squatted in and or left to rot. Bringing the value down ever faster. Having job producing areas allowed to be built closer? So what? What job has any sort of long term security to bother buying a house near it? Might as well put the whole workforce in mobile homes. Hmmmm... There is the future! Every business having a trailer park area around it. Wait! Even better! Dorms. Hey those chinese businesses are way ahead of us. The course is well set to the company town, company store. You owe your soul. There needs to be a course in our schools. Learning from the past and how not to repeat it.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 00:55 | 2387460 Thunder_Downunder
Thunder_Downunder's picture

Thats some shallow analysis.. if it even qualifies as analysis. More like a News of the World article... Sensational!


Howzabout we consider average traffic congestion (travel time), fluctuation in property values and rents, rate of family creation, and per capita spending on transport infrastructure (public transport and roads)... before we pin the 'its gas prices' tail on the donkey.


$1000 increase in annual spend driving a secular shift... Pfft! Whatever...




Tue, 05/01/2012 - 01:50 | 2387486 ebworthen
Tue, 05/01/2012 - 01:48 | 2387485 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

Front-loaded loans, non-career salaries, inflated fees and taxes; everything they won't do to a corporation.

Screw you big banks and government!  The dream is not worth the money, nor the CORZINING!

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 02:43 | 2387514 goforgin
goforgin's picture

Which makes more sense:

1. living in Queens, NY

or boondocks

There ain't going to be nothing in the boondocks. No doctors, no food no security, no water , no electricity.

You people lived in any kind of emergency?


They send the troops and aid to NOLA and a few volunteers to Jefferson Parish to fish out the rednecks floating on rooftops. My sister lives on huge ranch outside of Dallas, she shops for food at Costco.


Tue, 05/01/2012 - 06:50 | 2387557 Lednbrass
Lednbrass's picture


No food? Uhh... Queens NY produces food? As soon as the trucks stop running, those zombies have to eat each other within a week. Nothing is produced there in terms of food or anything with actual value and the humanity is barely a step up from Java Man.

As far as your sister goes, if she doesnt grown her own food (alot of Texas is not very good farming country due to lack of water) she is no better off than the fool living in a city.  You can live just on beef for awhile, but the lack of vitamins is going to take a toll eventually. Ranches in Texas have to be huge because the land is so barren and parched in some areas it cant support cattle, its a terrible place to use as a comparison. Without massive amounts of Midwestern corn to feed their cows, they will go belly up fast.

How and why you conclude that there are no doctors in rural areas is odd, but whatever.

No security? What? Nonsensical. There is a reason rural crime is so low- its an extreme risk when every house is armed. I hear gunfire all the time, yet crime barely exists if at all. Makes more sense for any scumbags to go to a more populated area and rip off the sheep.

You just stay in NY and hope the government takes care of you, good luck. With logic like yours you have no other option. Those of us in rural areas with water, animals, crops, doctors, and a very heavily armed populace highly skilled with weapons will muddle along somehow as your sort die off.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 07:25 | 2387657 hardcleareye
hardcleareye's picture

Before you get too cocky regarding the ease of defending a rural home, you may want to read Aguirre's book regarding his experience of the 2001 Argentina Economic Collapse.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 09:43 | 2387903 HungrySeagull
HungrySeagull's picture

Hunt's Point Market would be the place trucks. Hundreds cross the GW every night going into NYC with Meats, produce and grocery. All of which have been on the road up to 5 days to get there.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 02:56 | 2387529 drysafe
drysafe's picture

Read Dmitry Orlov, "Reinventing Collapse"


Tue, 05/01/2012 - 03:00 | 2387532 jwoop66
jwoop66's picture

Yet another lie from the past 40/50 years exposed-  The suburbs are mindless dead ends of conformity.  

Suburbs; for whatever faults they may have are one of the greatest inventions(?)/creations of humanity.   Vast areas around business districts (cities), where people have a fairly large amount of space to call their own.    Of course Euro centric statists have hated them ever since Levitt built his first sub-division.    An american welfare recipient lives on more space (land and house)  than the avg european lawyer or doctor.   Of course the suburbs needed to be trashed by the more enlightened.  

As long as we can still buy and drive our own vehicles and buy our own homes, there will be suburbs.  

You can have your city living; overcrowded, waiting for a bus, rat infested, mindless groupthink.  

Long live the Suburbs!!

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 03:05 | 2387537 silverdragon
silverdragon's picture

Live where you have the greatest opportunity to be as self sufficient as possible.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 03:44 | 2387556 George Orwell
George Orwell's picture

The decline of suburbs is all about gasoline prices.  People may not know or care about peak oil, but they understand that high oil prices are here to stay.  The young and the upwardly mobile are moving into cities because they understand this.

The old and the thick headed are still reminiscing about $0.99 cent a gallon gasoline in 1999.   Those were the good old days right?  People who refuse to change and adapt to Peak Oil will become poorer and poorer.  They will continue to blame oil companies and believe in conspiracy theories about abiotic oil.

It is possible to survive and profit from Peak Oil.  Learn to embrace it! 

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 04:11 | 2387565 Clashfan
Clashfan's picture

Are you sure? Fletcher Prouty seems to be a well-informed, interesting fellow to me w/a certain degree of credibility, especially concerning the JFK hit. I am distrustful of anyone who throws around a term like "conspiracy theory" so loosely. This is an interesting video:!

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 06:59 | 2387626 hardcleareye
hardcleareye's picture

I have issues with the "Church of Scientology"....  you may want to do a little more "look see" into Prouty's later career.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 09:50 | 2387904 HungrySeagull
HungrySeagull's picture

As do I.

Truth is simple to write, bullshit takes much labor and energy.

Wed, 05/02/2012 - 03:50 | 2390428 Clashfan
Clashfan's picture

Thanks. I have issues w/them, too, and was not aware of his association w/them. 'Preciate the heads up, HCE.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 04:08 | 2387563 Clashfan
Clashfan's picture

I work entirely online. I intensely prefer suburbia to a nasty, noisy city. In fact, I want to move further out.

I don't understand the anti-suburbia movement or what's so great about a city.


Tue, 05/01/2012 - 09:49 | 2387920 HungrySeagull
HungrySeagull's picture

Suburbia is not all that with the arguing at a nearby house, lawn mowing at a different house and kids raising hell at another.

The City was good at one time. But we got out when the getting was good. No one was left from the Old World. Everyone had died off and everything they built to the City died with them.

There was a time the Cops had every corner and knew the names of every Kid. Instantly any stranger was spotted and watched. Today they have cops two to a car.

Living out in the Boonies has it's own set of risks as well. Which is gladly accepted provided you can take care of them yourself. Because the best Law Enforcement can do is record your last words on 911 and recover your body should you still live in a world where there is no guns as NYC does.

Wed, 05/02/2012 - 03:49 | 2390427 Clashfan
Clashfan's picture

I've had to call the local, city cops several times during my 11 years in this home, always for matters most folks would consider trivial to medium at best, and every single time they were here in five minutes or less. Every time.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 13:27 | 2388618 drysafe
drysafe's picture

Working at home is a great idea, of course. But when all your neighbors' houses are foreclosed and you are the only one left on your street, do you intend to grow and catch your own food? Because there probably won't be any supermarkets left in the exhurb of your choice. Or do you still intend to drive, once a week, to the nearest city for food? This may work for a while, but keep in mind that first, it will cost you more and more, and eventually, since the government will probably have de-prioritize road maintenance, you won't even be able to reach it. Other than that, a sound plan!

P.S. I am even not touching the other issues - for example, how long your (presumably high-speed) Internet provider will provide service to a distant exhurb where the population is dwindling. May have to rediscover dialup.

Wed, 05/02/2012 - 03:47 | 2390426 Clashfan
Clashfan's picture

Thanks for the concern and input, seriously. Our area is not dwindling. Several of the homes (moderately priced wooden ones, not McMansions) were foreclosed on a few years back and stood empty for a while, but not a single house in our hood is for sale now. All of them (all) are well kept.

There are farms all around, one right behind our property, and deer are constantly in our backyard.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 04:59 | 2387573 NuYawkFrankie
NuYawkFrankie's picture

Re The Decline & Fall of Suburbia


This sounds suspiciously like another anti sheetrock-box-in-the-middle-of-a-former-cornfield rant.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 05:29 | 2387581 blueridgeviews
blueridgeviews's picture

The suburbs of NY and DC are doing just fine.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 05:42 | 2387585 sensibleperson
sensibleperson's picture

Mistake moving to inner cities.  Too many people that are not quite civilized.  This is what the UN and the Administration want - easier to control people - they think.  No way to grow food.  Better to live in a SMALL house miles away from city with enough yard to grow food, and hopefully a well so that one does not have to drink water with fluoride in it.  When/if trucks stop running and supplying the cities, the riots will break out and no one will be safe - unless armed to the teeth and traveling in gangs!  People need to learn how to grow food, and live without the Grid.  They may never have to, but knowing how to "live off the land" is always a good way. is a wealth of information from people who know and do!

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 07:03 | 2387630 AnAnonymous
AnAnonymous's picture

Made me laugh.

US citizens have risen from the ranks to become the best extorter of the weak and farmer of the poor ever. By far.

As their foreign holdings are yielding less and less/not enough, you should believe that urban have also lost the capacity to perform their tricks on rural.

Biggest gang of all will the force and the military. All of them being an expression of city.

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 07:18 | 2387651 TheFourthStooge-ing
TheFourthStooge-ing's picture

Made me laugh.

Chinese citizenism citizens have blobbed up through the ranks to become the best exploiter of the weak and conqueror of the poor, as in Tibet, Mongolia, Nepal, Bhutan.

Who next?


Biggest gang of all with Chinese citizenism hypocricy on the roadside. All of them being an expression of shitting.


Tue, 05/01/2012 - 07:20 | 2387654 j0nx
j0nx's picture

You gotta stop using Bing to translate all of your posts here because nobody understands a fucking word you are saying. English, do you speak it?

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 09:13 | 2387833 TheFourthStooge-ing
TheFourthStooge-ing's picture

The brilliance of AnAnonymous cannot be constrained by mere human languageism.


Tue, 05/01/2012 - 10:50 | 2388122 jwoop66
jwoop66's picture

LOL!!! +5

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 06:33 | 2387603 spinone
spinone's picture

All suburbs are not the same.  The old railstop towns on the east coast built in 1920's- 40's 1700 sq ft, that are close to urban centers, on 1/4 acre lots and walkable with a downtown are still viable.  The new suburbs built on old farms on 2 acre lots and 3500 sq ft homes far from and urban center (drive until you qualify) are not

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 07:09 | 2387635 skipjack
skipjack's picture

You are uninformed.  Many of those suburbs built on old farms are very near rail lines, and have a nice little berg with local shops within 2-4 miles - an easy bike ride.  Tell me - how far do you have to go to find a food market in the city that has fresh food ?  And how much do you pay your overlords for the privilege of drinking their chemical-laden water, flushing away your shit thru 100 year old sewer lines, and occupying 1200 sq ft of rat-infested space with meth heads and section 8 heros next door  ?

Wed, 05/02/2012 - 03:44 | 2390425 Clashfan
Clashfan's picture

Exactly. We live in one of those and ride our bikes around town all the time, two miles from a fabulous grocery, right on rails. Lots of space between us and the neighbors. Much better than the more congested suburbs across the county lines, much better than the encroaching city. We even have an excellent, well-priced Chinese restaurant that delivers. And the owners don't shit on the roadside either.
