ReBurbia : Suburban redesign contest for Dwell magazine. My entries.

Title: Higher density, take down the fences.

To make the suburbs a useful and enjoyable place I propose drawing a strict perimeter around existing developments that are within reach of public transportation to urban areas, taking out all the fences, and increasing the density. These areas should then virtually restrict automobile use within these clearly defined perimeters. Former backyards are zoned for residential towers and former houses are zoned for business. All front yards are zoned as public space with the original street used as a thoroughfare for bike and pedestrian traffic. Where do you put that car you use on the weekends? All cars are housed outside the perimeter in giant corrugated sheet metal parking garages - the former Walmarts and Home Depots.

Title: Go underground.

For suburbs disconnected from mass transit bordering on rural areas I propose sealing these developments and covering them with dirt. As foreclosures in these areas multiply with no end in sight these fringe populations are becoming increasingly sparse; covering them would allow additional farmland to be cultivated for the increasing world population. The intact, functioning, and sunless suburban infrastructure would be turned into a "free zone" where those who wish to stay or those unhappy with "above ground" parameters can live cheaply and act out their own utopias. Libertarians, Christian fundamentalists, hippies, and music cults can develop a parallel structure insulated from national governments and others whose ideas differ from theirs. Essentially escaping the external pressures of prying eyes and a need for insularity still remain the key motivations for inhabiting these suburbs.