Activities which once took place in the center of cities and towns have been segregated to the periphery of these more densely populated areas. As centers lose their importance as the heart of communities, civic values are also weakened. Individuals become alienated from their neighbors as downtowns and village centers no longer function as meeting places.

Commercial strip development is common in cities and towns across America, frequently providing the link between highway interchanges and downtown districts -- as in this view of Laurel, Montana (photo by John Williams; posted by permission).

For more on ways to improve these links, see Suzanne Rhees' excellent article, Gateways: Creating Civic Identity (see excerpts from article which can be ordered and downloaded online), and Ross Moldoff's Controlling Strip Development (see excerpts from article which can also be ordered and downloaded online). On right: a commercial strip in Salem, New Hampshire (photo by Ross Moldoff; posted by permission).

"How to Mess Up a Town", by James Howard Kunstler (from the Planning Commissioners Journal). The degradation of Saratoga Springs, New York, and what it says about our society.

Also by Kunstler, Home From Nowhere:

-- excerpts from the book in the Atlantic Monthly.