Interesting isn't it? Most of us live in single-family homes yet actively participate on a forum for the better of the urban environment. I will defend myself a little in saying that my wife feels a huge need to have a lawn and space between the next house. It wouldn't bother me one bit to move into a condo with no yard, garage, etc. In fact, I prefer it having experienced that lifestyle in Chicago. Perhaps later in life we can pursue my dream of living in a space not so dependent on personal transportation.

Planetizen has an article suggesting that office parks may be worse than suburban sprawl. By not being transit friendly and isolating themselves from the surrounding environment office parks are taking sprawl to an extreme level and for what reason?

Do you think office parks are worse than suburban sprawl? How can we make them more friendly to our cities or are they a lost cause?

I'm surprised there are so many here who live in single family homes!

Another: http://urbanplanningblog.com/

As far as how the internet has changed people I agree it has been a big change but I think more and more people are desiring human contact and now taking your laptop to coffee shops, the mall and even restaurants is becoming more commonplace. Any weekend go to Panera and you will find plenty of people with their laptops surfing and doing school work, etc. Even Barnes and Noble is offering free wi fi these days. Of course I realize a large reason of the offerings is to pull people into their establishments to spend money. All and all, urban centers are doing well but surely the recession has slowed down the progress but hopefully soon things will turn around.

One thing that strikes me is how telecommuting (and online shopping, etc.) could potentially change society. I feel like I can already see it happening; as people can do more and more with their computers - work, shop, play - could it be that the need for "urban centers" may diminish? Why would you go into an office when you are more productive at home? Why would you go to Barnes and Noble, when you can find a bigger selection at Amazon.com? Why would you go to the mall arcade when you have Xbox at home connected to the internet?

So what are the futures of urban centers? They MUST remain vital to the community - to bring people together, to interact and learn from each other. Look back over my list and understand that a home office does not foster the same competitive and collaborative environment as a traditional workplace. A search on Amazon.com does not provide the opportunity to take suggestions from strangers in the dusty isles of a used book store. And a 14 year old boy will certainly not find a girlfriend sitting at home playing Xbox.

Hopefully, someone out there understands that the "urban center" is not necessarily about commerce, it's about civic productivity.

Decentralization may in fact be the future as telecommuting becomes even more prevalent. I'm not sure this is positive for our urban centers as folks will obviously spread out into the suburban landscape. Telecommuting is a win/win for most companies and employees with the biggest advantage that it saves both a great deal of money by not having to keep up a centralized location or travel to one.

Things could also play out differently as folks get tired of dealing with choking traffic and wish to move to a more dense urban environment where they can walk or take mass transit for shopping, dining, etc.