Joel Kotkin, a prolific writer of articles and books on urbanism, demographics, city planning and density, takes a different angle. Often at odds with convention or popular beliefs on planning, the suburbs, the patterns of millennials and so on, Kotkin in his latest book -- "The Human City: Urbanism for the Rest of Us" -- argues that ongoing focuses on high-density layouts and other popular planning approaches don't serve most people well and that the suburbs deserve much more love than they get. We hear why on this interesting and challenging episode with the man whom The New York Times calls "America's uber-geographer." We also hear why he thinks local governments should be allowed to decide their own policies with fewer constraints from the state and federal levels. Listen in. Show notes: http://www.joelkotkin.com "The Human City" - http://www.joelkotkin.com/content/006-joels-books Kotkin article on local government authority - http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/09/16/local_govt_control_the_ignored_campaign_issue_131786.html Archive audio source - "The Dynamic American City" (1956, U.S. Chamber of Commerce)