The American Dream: Phase II

Allison Arieff, writing for the New York Times, has a great article about the morphing American Dream:

In short, builders are recognizing that buyers (and renters, too!) value the neighborhood as much as — if not more than — the house.

This notion - the idea that the neighborhood is the differentiator - is an important concept I think. Anecdotally, whenever I have been looking for a place to live I have always determined the neighborhood first and then looked for the home second. A key part of making desirable neighborhoods is to make Places that are livable:

The country could be moving toward something much better, something that’s less about consumption (of stuff, of such essential resources) and more about quality of life.

I also really liked this sentence:

Living better and smarter shouldn’t be a partisan issue

Making places for people is a non-partisan ideal. There may be different perspectives on how best to make great places, but we need to work together to achieve real progress.