Do you see any evidence in Shaw or elsewhere that the movement among city planners away from urban density and toward more suburban, vehicle-dependent designs was partly a reaction to crime, street drug use, homelessness and other “urban blights” that became more pronounced in the early 1960s?

It seems to me that at least in southern California, the municipal planning that took place between the late 1950s and the 1980s was a reaction to the popular view that traditional urban centers were headed for the dustbin of history — crime-ridden, dangerous, overrun by gangs and drugs, and unsafe places for families. As a result, mayors and city councils seem to have pushed for a more decentralized suburban development model, under the logic that less dense areas would suffer fewer of these “externality” problems that plagued cities at the time. In retrospect, as you note, this turns out to have been a huge mistake, as the crime and drug waves were largely due a temporary spike in the number of young men between 15 and 30 post-Baby-Boom, which has now disappeared.

Just wondering if you’ve seen anything exploring this idea that the perceived decline in dense urban areas in the 1960s and 1970s may have pushed city planning toward the more suburban model we see today.