It might be time to move out of the suburbs.
Until about 100 years ago, almost every city in the world was laid out on a rectangular grid. New York City and Washington D.C. are prototypical U.S. examples; most European capitals are also. Starting around 1930 however, city designers abandoned dense urban grids for garden communities with meandering streets and cul-de-sacs. These new cul-de-sac neighborhoods were thought to be safer and more private alternatives to the pollution, poverty and....