I've been saying this for years

Don't you live in the suburbs now?

I live in the City of Rockville...

And just because I think that cities are how we should live, doesn't mean it is appealing the way it has been done. I think that there should be 2 zones:

1. City
2. Country

City should require a high degree of population density and country a very low degree of population density. The city, however, should be designed with living in mind so that people won't crave that suburban experience, and the country should include large preserves for people to visit when they need those wide open spaces (but don't want to farm the land).

Will that ever happen? I doubt it. Too much is already built that doesn't fit what is needed to make that work, and too much of a "master plan" would be required. But I do think that some zoning should help to reduce the sprawl, the nasty traffic patters that sprawl contributes to, and something should be done about the McMansions...

Oddly enough, however, I've been rethinking some of this theory now that I work at home. If we had a ton more people telecommuting, suburbs might actually be the best way to live.

That's what I was going to say. Many of the problems aren't problems if you telecommute. There seem to be an awful lot of people who work from home where I live (not that I have a baseline for comparison or actual numbers). I guess if I could afford to buy a comparable place in Rockville, then I wouldn't be too upset having to commute to a job in Rockville or DC.

Then again, I did buy this house on Doceus' salary, so I'm lucky I could afford a shoebox.

Still, I recall making a 7 mile commute down Randolph/Montrose that would take between 20 and 45 minutes. And that was like 10 years ago. Also, with Montgomery county's decent school system, they are more like an ideal city* to live in (for families) and not the norm.

*Frederick has a larger population than Rockville.

Baltimore 635,815
Frederick 57,907
Gaithersburg 57,698
Rockville 57,402
Bowie 53,878
Hagerstown 38,326
Annapolis 36,300
Salisbury 26,295
College Park 25,171
Greenbelt 22,242

If I can just find 505 more people to move to Rockville...