Joel Kotkin has made his career on being an urbanist who champions the suburban development pattern. He's a contrarian in that sense (that's cool!). He's also t

Joel Kotkin has made his career on being an urbanist who champions the suburban development pattern. He's a contrarian in that sense (that's cool!). He's also the archetype of the home owning californian boomer (that's lame!). Over time, he's always shifting the supports of his thesis. For the longest time, it was that urban development was inherently more expensive compared to single family homes. Then it was that the market showed a revealed preference for suburban housing because there was more suburban development (points at sunbelt). Now it is the collapse of urban office real estate. Five years from now it'll be something else.