ABSTRACT
Many American cities have witnessed an explosion of new office construction on their outskirts. In some suburban locales, what can only be described as "second downtowns"–complete with office towers and the finest shops, hotels, and restaurants–are mushrooming skyward, dwarfing surrounding tree-lined residential neighborhoods. The rapidity of suburban office development has been staggering. Over 80 percent of all office floorspace in America's suburbs has been built since 1970. The political stakes posed by rampant suburban office and commercial growth are indeed high, and the rising ground swell of resentment to mounting traffic jams can only be expected to spawn even more confrontations among builders, residents, and city councils. Integration of new suburban housing projects with large office complexes could promote other alternatives to solo driving, including ridesharing, cycling, and walking. However, there is often resistance among developers, some public officials, and even residential neighborhoods to siting homes and workplaces side by side.
