In an interview with Yale Environment 360, he notes that for most working families the pop of the housing bubble marked the end of “the American dream of the single-family home in a cul-de-sac and a couple of cars.” Since then, many tens of thousands ⁠ of acres of commercial strip malls have fallen vacant or underutilized as consumers have relied increasingly on online purchases. Now Calthorpe sees an opportunity in the economic wreckage left behind by the 2008 Great Recession.

His books, including The Regional City: Planning for the End of Sprawl in 2001, as Metropolis magazine puts it, “define the recent history ⁠ of urban design in its most vital and prescient manifestations.” For decades, he has campaigned for more densely populated cities, rapid public transit, and an end to sprawl and reliance on cars, all tenets of the movement he cofounded, called New Urbanism. Peter Calthorpe, the heralded California-based urban planner, believes he knows how to lessen the housing and environmental crises at the same time.

The shortage exacerbates homelessness, income inequality, and even climate destabilization, as greenhouse gas emissions increase while workers drive longer and longer distances between jobs and residences. housing shortage is so severe that demand outstrips supply by a stunning 3.8 million homes ⁠, according to Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage dealer.

Cost of building a strip mall