Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
> You misunderstand the problem. The problem is not that workers moved
> away from cities while businesses stayed put, making commutes long.
> The problem is that both businesses and workers moved away from
> cities, decentralizing both production and reproduction.
>
> Much of employment in the United States by now is in the service
> sector (retail, office work, education, etc.), and that's what needs
> to move back to cities first and foremost.
In smaller and midsize cities the problem can be much worse. Retail establishments are scattered all over the place on the outskirts of the original city. So for the kind of shopping that once could be done by going downtown (by car or public transportation) and walking from store to store now can require 5, 10, or more miles of driving around from one strip mall to another.
Carrol