"In the wake of the foreclosure crisis many new subdivisions are left half built and more established suburbs face abandonment.... The demand for suburban homes may never recover... The whole suburban idea was founded on disposable spending and the promise of cheap gas.... [B]y 2025 there will be as many as 22 million unwanted large-lot homes in suburban areas.... Thirty-five percent of the nation's wealth has been invested in building a drivable suburban landscape... Already low or middle-income families priced out of cities and better neighborhoods are moving into McMansions divided for multi-family use... [S]ubdivision homes could be dismantled and sold for scrap now that a mini-industry for repurposed lumber and other materials has evolved over the last few years... [T]he New Urbanists, a group of planners, developers and architects devoted to building walkable towns based on traditional designs, have interpreted the downturn as vindication of their plans for mixed-use communities where people can stroll from their homes to schools and restaurants... Richard Florida...argues that dense and diverse cities with "accelerated rates of urban metabolism" are the communities most likely to innovate their way through economic crisis..."

Suburbia R.I.P. | Fast Company | Michael Cannell | Tue Mar 10, 2009

The ideas set forth by Charles Jencks and Nathan Silver in their (out-of-print) 1972 book "Adhocism: The Case for Improvisation" may find broader interpretation than those authors imagined: "[Adhocism] can be applied to many human endeavours, denoting a principle of action having speed or economy and purpose or utility. Basically it involves using an available system or dealing with an existing situation in a new way to solve a problem quickly and effectively. It is a method of creation relying particularly on resources which are already at hand."