For decades, we worried about urban blight. Today, we worry about suburban blight. More and more Americans want to live in dense, walkable cities, not in spread-out suburbs. But many U.S. cities, particular western cities, grew fastest during an age when Americans wanted to live in suburban houses with large lots and two-car garages.

These newer cities may have historical cores—Los Angeles has its downtown; Phoenix has its central business district—but those centers are less like neighborhoods than commercial zones.

So what should sprawling cities do to accommodate new tastes? Should they make themselves denser—with all the attendant traffic, strain, and crowding? Should local governments try to create new urban cores? Should the market simply take of it?


Urbanologist Alan Ehrenhalt, author of The Great Inversion and the Future of the American City, visits Zócalo to discuss where sprawling cities go from here.

KJZZ and Zócalo Public Square invite you to join the conversation on Wed., May 2 at 6:30 p.m. at the Phoenix Art Museum.

MAKE A RESERVATION

Open to the public—reservations recommended.

Free parking lot available. Entrance off Central and Alvarado.


KJZZ 91.5 is serving as a media partner for this Zócalo/Arizona State University Event. For more information on Zócalo, please visit www.zocalopublicsquare.org.


Can Sprawling Cities Find Their Centers?
Wed., May 2
6:30 p.m.
Phoenix Art Museum
1625 N. Central Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85004