American cities (or lack thereof)

I just hung a beautiful picture of the skyline of Chicago in my all too depressing cubicle. It had the effect that I was afraid (or hoped) that it might have. I wasted plenty of time today day dreaming about Chicago and contemplating the deficiencies of most American cities. Then I spent my whole lunch break touring some of the cities of the world on google earth. Of course I stopped off in Buenos Aires for most of that time. After doing some traveling of my own, and conversing with numerous classmates from other parts of the world (China, India, Chile, Iran, and Turkey to name a few), I have repeatedly heard there disappointment with America's cities and I must agree with them.

What is it about America that makes us want to spread out so much? I think first we should consider this conspiracy http://www.lovearth.net/gmdeliberatelydestroyed.htm but I'm also wondering if there are more philosophical reasons for this, or if it is truly just the greed of General Motors that has caused the American cities to turn out the way they have. Sure there are exceptions (New York and Chicago are the only two that I have personally experienced). Why don't we live closer together? Why are we stuck with Costco (and BJ's in the south?) instead of the neighborhood corner store? This has been a huge frustration for me in moving to Raleigh. I really expected more out of an American city. I really miss not being able to walk places. One day I decided to walk to the Home Depot (to buy some light bulbs) that is less than a mile away, but where I live it is so unusual to see people walking down the street that I literally had a car stop me and ask me if I needed a ride!!! I laughed it off, but seriously America?!

So this blog post was mostly just me venting, and I'm too tired to try to make it better, so here it is. and man I am upset with GM...