I'm serenely convinced that we are heading into what will amount to a time out from technological progress as we know it.

Americans threw away their communities in order to save a few dollars on hair dryers and plastic food storage tubs, never stopping to reflect on what they were destroying.

Cities like Detroit exist because they occupy important sites. In the case of Detroit, it sits on a river between two great lakes - very important and strategic.

The twentieth century was about getting around. The twenty-first century will be about staying in a place worth staying in.

I think a lot of things will be self-correcting, even in America. After all, human societies are essentially self-organizing emergent systems. The catch is, how much disorder will we have to endure while this re-self-organizing process occurs.

The suburban cycle which began a hundred years ago is nearly over. We are in for a period of contraction and economic hardship.

I am far less interested in serving as a change agent than in functioning as a prose artist, whether it's fiction or nonfiction.