I side with the "God" character. The whole sub-urban lifestyle is stupid and unsustainable, but more and more people want to do it.
It's a lot like cigarette smoking, so perhaps some time this century, its risks to both individual health (e.g., obesity, social isolation, stress from long commutes and mortgage payments) and the environment (e.g., pollution, traffic, wasteful fuel consumption by both the vehicles and houses) shall be fully recognised and the Government will call for warning labels to be placed in front of every development and "planned community", which itself is a contradiction in terms.
Then at last, the legislation will begin to outlaw new sub-urban construction and concentrate on the infrastructures of the cities. Some time after that, some Congressperson will observe the depletion of the water table and the wilderness by unrestricted sprawl and demand a de-contenting of sub-urban areas and repatriation of those residents back into proper cities, which shall by that time be environmentally efficient, comfortable and highly desirable.
Of course by that time, the Virtual Countryside shall have been perfected and anyone with a Quik-Fit® geodesic dome will be able to generate whatever living environment they choose and use only a tenth of the energy consumed by the old-fashioned single-family house. And domes can stack atop each other with the right structural upgrades, so everyone will be able to live wherever they like without ever having to bother relocating! I can hardly wait.
Suburbia: the Ultimate Stupid Human Trick
It's a lot like cigarette smoking, so perhaps some time this century, its risks to both individual health (e.g., obesity, social isolation, stress from long commutes and mortgage payments) and the environment (e.g., pollution, traffic, wasteful fuel consumption by both the vehicles and houses) shall be fully recognised and the Government will call for warning labels to be placed in front of every development and "planned community", which itself is a contradiction in terms.
Then at last, the legislation will begin to outlaw new sub-urban construction and concentrate on the infrastructures of the cities. Some time after that, some Congressperson will observe the depletion of the water table and the wilderness by unrestricted sprawl and demand a de-contenting of sub-urban areas and repatriation of those residents back into proper cities, which shall by that time be environmentally efficient, comfortable and highly desirable.
Of course by that time, the Virtual Countryside shall have been perfected and anyone with a Quik-Fit® geodesic dome will be able to generate whatever living environment they choose and use only a tenth of the energy consumed by the old-fashioned single-family house. And domes can stack atop each other with the right structural upgrades, so everyone will be able to live wherever they like without ever having to bother relocating! I can hardly wait.