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8/I1/20I0 Business& Finanda| News, BreakingUS— 40MVAM / xPrint This copy is for your personal, non-ccmmercial use only.To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to colleagues,clients or customers, use the Reprints tool at the top of any article or visit:www.reutersreprints.com. Special Report: Smart money "n real estate is on smart row t = Tue.Aug 32U1U By Helen Chemiknff and AJYoon RDCK\9LLE.Maryland (Reubenu)'This suburb of Washington, DC inspired REM.'o1884 song about the soul-sucking blandness ofu suburban adolescence that has been a staple uf rock and roll.^(Donf Go Back to) Ruokvi||a''deecri bed a town ofemptyhoueao.^vvhero nobodyoaynhe||o.^ But some experts in the real estate business believe that in the future, more and more ofuo will be going back Uz places like the revamped Rockville—quite happily,infact. "They had o point at the Ume.''Sally Sternbach,the head ofRonkviUe'a economic deve|opmentarm.says nfRE.W1.'aquietonthem 'WoQntit wrong VVo built a mail that never found its anchors. |t languished for -- ' 4U years.|twao like the biblical 4D years in the deuert." -- Then, 15 years ago, Rockville convened hearings and forums to discuss its lackluster downtown,deciding in the end to replace it with a town square lined with shops,restaurants and apartments,all steps awayfrom a subway station--in other words,more ofan urban experience. The citizenrywanted vibrant street life both for the fun of it,and to attract business. So far, it's worked.Teenagers use Facebook to signal spur-of-the-moment breakdance sessions on the town square's bandstand because,as Dominique Estrora. 17 explained,it's reoUythe only place they can"hang out and bnaok.^ Adults like to socialize there,too."I love the Town Square because I can'twalk more than a couple feetwithout seeing snmeone |knowfromduingbuaineao.^ooidRobinVWener. peeidentofGe\Roa| Consu|Ung a firm that helps healthcare providers put their records online. Rockville's renaissance over the past four years shows how the shifttoward urban-style living has reached the suburbs And urban planners insist the trend has legs. Dubbed"smart growth,"the movement favors the development of a mixof housing and businesses in and near existing oideo.A1theoameUme.itdinoounageotheTopay-|ikogmwthofperiphera| uuburbo.hnowndiupanoging|yoo ^apnyvv|.^ The unexpected ra,,Awa| ofa number of cities,from Rockville to Sacramento,stands in contrast 10 plunging home prices in the suburbs."America is catching on to this trend,"said Peter Calthorpe,who co-founded the Congress for the New Urbanism in18S3to create alternatives to the conventional suburb. He says the previous model was based on the assumption that the United States could prop up the single fam ily home in a diatant|ocabonbykeeping\hecootofui|andmortgageo |ow. Butthotoraioover.'Thotruecoatoftranoportadon / ond housing|o going tnotorttoaurfaoe.^hewarns. L|NNG FOR THE CITY If the trend persists,as manyexpect,itwould be a sharp rejection of the preferences and policies that have shaped U.S. housing since World War 11. The suburb as we know ittoday--open, low-slung,car-dependent--was born with the post-war baby boom.All of a sudden,there was a desperate need for housing. By 1950,single-family housing starts had soared from around ,~— 286,000 a year in 1945 to 1.6 million,according to Census Bureau data.And as the car became more widely available, and roads spread, ao did the suburbs. During the most recent housing boom,homebuilders started 6.3 million detached single-family homes between 2003 and 2006. By2007, single-family homes accounted for 63 percent of U.S.housing units. http://wxww.neuterszom/ossets/print7aid— I/4