“If cities are truly going to become a sustainable part of the landscape, they first need to find ways to re-engage with those natural areas closest to them and develop just relationships that respect the rural populations and assist in maintaining the ecological resiliency of those places.”

But the places they are supposed to call home are either wrecked — the original small towns and cities of America — or replaced by new “developments” so devoid of artistry, history, thought, care, and charm that they don’t add up to communities, and are so obviously unworthy of affection, that the very idea of “home” becomes a cruel joke.

These places were bad enough in the 1960s and 70s, when the people who lived in them at least were able to report to paying jobs assembling products and managing their distribution. Now those people don’t have that to give a little meaning to their existence, or cover the costs of it. Public space was never designed into the automobile suburbs, and the sad remnants of it were replaced by ersatz substitutes, like the now-dying malls. Everything else of a public and human associational nature has been shoved into some kind of computerized box with a screen on it.” – J.H. Kunstler

http://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/the-value-of-everything/

See too David Brussat’s recent introduction to Market Towns: https://architecturehereandthere.com/2017/06/18/market-town-new-zealand/

Kunstler on the subject: https://orionmagazine.org/article/back-to-the-future/

By the way, Pål Steigan himself lives in Tolfa, some of the closest you can come to an idealized Market Town: https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/tolfa-in-italy-a-future-hub-for-the-commons-in-europe/2014/06/25