Suburbs are done for

James Kuntsler, author of The Long Emergency (written when oil was $50 a barrel), is not what you’d call an optimist.

Here’s Kuntsler in the Schnectady Gazette:

A lot of people (Realtors, builders, bankers) are waiting for the “bottom” of the housing crash, with the idea that we’ll re-enter an up-cycle. I see it differently. There won’t be a resumption of “growth” as we’ve known it, certainly not in suburban residential and commercial real estate. The suburban project is over. We’re done with that. (I know people find this unbelievable.) The existing stuff will represent a huge liability for us for decades to come as it loses value and utility and falls apart.

And here he is in the Dallas Morning News:

I think the Sun Belt generally is in for tough times. We’re going to rediscover why the territory between Charleston and the Pecos was an agricultural backwater before 1945, with few cities of any size. You can’t overestimate the importance of cheap air conditioning – and the prospect for that is looking pretty grim in years ahead.