How suburbia inhibits the American Dream
The single-family house on a cul-de-sac is an icon of upward mobility: One of the most active pro-sprawl organizations is called The American Dream Coalition. Ironically, it turns out that too much automobile-oriented development may be getting in the way of talented people working their way out of poverty, writes New York Times columnist Paul Krugman in a column called Stranded by Sprawl.
"America, which still thinks of itself as the land of opportunity, actually has more of an inherited class system than other advanced nations," Krugman writes. People at the bottom of society in other nations are statistically more likely than US poor to work their way to the top regardless of race, Krugman writes.
A recent study by the Equality of Opportunity Project, seeking to find out why, found that sprawling metro regions like Atlanta inhibit upward mobility, even if when they have strong economic growth. The reason, according to Krugman, is that the poor tend to be isolated in sprawling metropolises and have little access to jobs. A child born in poverty in San Francisco or Boston has nearly triple the chance of making it to the top fifth — the true American Dream — than a child born in poverty in Atlanta.
"And in Atlanta poor and rich neighborhoods are far apart because, basically, everything is far apart; Atlanta is the Sultan of Sprawl, even more spread out than other major Sun Belt cities. This would make an effective public transportation system nearly impossible to operate even if politicians were willing to pay for it, which they aren’t. As a result, disadvantaged workers often find themselves stranded; there may be jobs available somewhere, but they literally can’t get there."
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