America's Depression, Infrastructure and Stubborn Way of Life

This essay from Places looks at today's economic depression, the nation's crumbling infrastructure, and various efforts to rethink they way America looks at fixing its cities.

1 minute read

January 22, 2010, 9:00 AM PST

By Nate Berg

"[I]t seems increasingly - depressingly - clear that the Great Recession is not (yet) sparking a new New Deal, a contemporary WPA. The New Deal was a big-scale, legacy-building, vision-to-burn public sector response to national crisis. But in 2010, unlike in the '30s, we confront our crisis in a social-political climate that's to a large degree contemptuous of public sector solutions, and more, hostile to the very idea of the public."

The root of many of the problems facing the country is simply a lack of willingness to change the American way of life, writes editor Nancy Levinson.

FULL STORY: The Public Works

Friday, January 22, 2010 in Places

Community / Economic Development Infrastructure Land Use Social / Demographics United States Economic Recession Depression View More

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