Actually I didn't say "everyone." I said "more people." You only have to spend about an hour on the Net to realize that tens of millions of once-vibrant people are leading dreary hopeless lives in suburbs and exurbs all over the world. In the U.S. in particular, I think this is one of the root causes of American meanspiritedness and Republicanism. People are social animals; to thrive they need the kind of skin-to-skin contact you can only get in a close-knit village or a well-designed big city.

A sign of hope: there are over a million more people in New York City now than there were in 1990. (And the only people you ever hear complain about overcrowding are suburbanites foolish enough to drive into the city.)