National Context

The story of Al Green's is very much in line with nationwide trends of the late 1940s to 1970s. Suburban expansion, which had always been present to some extent, picked up rapidly after World War II with the increase in affluence, automobiles, new highways, and factories. Plentiful farm land, lenders, developers, and governmental agencies all contributed to the post-war movement to the suburbs.

Post WW II settlement usually consisted of low density single family detached housing where residents commuted to central cities. City planners at the time favored the creation of specialized land-use pods. By the 1960s, as the federal highway system took shape, developments were often structured around beltway highways. Shopping malls, office parks, and industrial corridors were connected to suburban residential pockets with the new highways.

Sometime in the 1970s or 80s, it appeared that suburban prosperity might last indefinitely and that suburbs might develop into edge cities that no longer needed their mother cities. But during the 1980s it became clear that vast areas of suburbia were seriously declining. Fleeing to the suburbs no longer automatically meant better schools, less crime, and nicer homes. Many suburbs were developed quickly and with modest standards, particularly after 1945 when federal mortgage guarantees and tax incentives were established. As owners failed to maintain their property or converted it to rental, some neighborhoods declined, a trend that could easily accelerate in a fickle housing market.

It is common knowledge among planners and raltors that neighborhoods with a strong “sense of place” are more resilient to shifting market trends and can better maintain property values. In contrast, many suburban developments had a very weak sense of place since they consisted of single-family housing exclusively, with strip malls and big box retail a short drive away. With few neighborhood parks, pedestrian connections, or village centers, residents of "classic" suburbia experienced an isolation that was never part of the big city environment. Older, denser neighborhoods had an advantage in being nearer to transit lines, neighborhood parks, and walkable destinations. Hence the relatively slow recovery of some blighted suburban areas today, and the relatviely fast comeback of many older neighborhoods once abandoned by flight to the suburbs. While many of the concepts of what comprises a livable, sustainable community seem obvious to us today, these concepts were not at all obvious back in the 1950s and 1960s.

Today, planners are interested in public transit, mixed uses, higher density, green building codes, walkable streets, and meaningful public spaces to help cities move beyond classic suburbia.