Preferences over hubris

Exurban growth in the U.S. has been known about since the late 1970s. Early on, some analysts mistook it for a reversal or urbanization. Rather, it is more of the same: the continued outward expansion of metro areas (the label "city" is almost quaint).

Yet, April 15, 2005, is the date that the story makes it as the headline of USA Today. Years and years of "smart growth" planning, all the rage all over the U.S., has not put a dent into some very powerful forces -- which emanate from people's excercise of their pereferences.

But what do they know?