To answer yesterday’s question:  Why is it easier to build greenfields/sprawl?

Because it’s legislated that way, and the private sector has followed.  How’d this happen?  A quick history:

Early 1900s to 1934:  A group of home builders lobbied the government relentlessly to allow them to mass-produce homes just like Henry Ford mass-produced automobiles.  Of course, people lived in villages, which were anything but.

1934:  As a result, Congress passed the FHA (Federal Housing Administration) Act which provided financing that made it less expensive for people to buy a new home in subdivisions over renting one in the city.  The catch?  Municipalities had to offer subdivision (ie sprawl) zoning to get the financing.  Oh yes, and non-whites could not apply.  Hard to believe, but true.

1939:  GM and the home builders introduced the “American Dream” concept at the NY World’s Fair that until today linked the term with the single-family home, backyard, modern kitchen, TV and car in the ‘burbs.

1960s:  The post WWII economic boom all but made suburbia the economic standard in home building.

1970s and 1980:  Shopping malls, office parks and monumental-sized schools had to be invented to accomodate the auto-oriented infrastructure.

Today:  Zoning, financing, appraisals, education, jobs and entertainment are stuck in this outdated, industrial-age infrastructure.

Tomorrow:  How do we make it easier to build CoolTowns - again?