You will always have a chicken and egg problem with jobs. Company towns are one solution and as people pointed out, they can be horrible. But I think a fantasti

You will always have a chicken and egg problem with jobs. Company towns are one solution and as people pointed out, they can be horrible. But I think a fantastic idea would be developing an empty area, say, 45 minutes from a job hub, and running bus shuttles or trains there. Imagine a stop along the California High Speed Rail project that could get you to San Jose or San Francisco in 45 minutes. From there, I think you'd want a few things: - Henry George-style taxation by the local city on land values - Maximize the place:non-place ratio. Maximize space for parks, buildings, plazas and minimize space for parking lots, roads for cars etc. - Small lot sizes, row houses, and 4-6 story apartment buildings with excellent noise insulation - Dense enough so that cars are not necessary most of the time. Saves lots of land and the costs of operating cars