Recovery Through Self-Discovery

Some economists are starting to believe that the U.S. is on its way to economic recovery. But recovery from what, asks William Shutkin in this piece. He suggests the recovery should really be a discovery of better ways of developing and using land.

1 minute read

August 16, 2009, 1:00 PM PDT

By Nate Berg

"At bottom, the economic crisis is not about subprime mortgages, credit default swaps and the avarice of investment bankers. It's not really about the economy at all. Rather, it's about our ability as Americans to acknowledge our mistakes and to commit to correcting them. It's about our capacity to move beyond entrenched mental models and behaviors and to engage reality on its own terms. It's a crisis of culture.

Appropriately, so much of this crisis has played out on our landscape, literally."

By focusing on development and city building, Shutkin says the U.S. can revise the culture of waste that brought about the economic downturn.

FULL STORY: Recovery Versus Discovery: Which Way Are We Headed?

Friday, August 14, 2009 in Citiwire

Community / Economic Development Land Use Urban Development United States Economic Recession

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