Our current built environment which was once meant for people and worked to integrate with nature doesn’t seem to be designed for people or nature anymore. Since the advent of the assembly line and the mass production of the automobile in 1913 the built environment in the United States has changed. These changes did not happen all at once; they have occurred over time in a subtle fashion. These changes have caused a shift in development practices that have moved away from people and nature.
Albert Einstein once said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” In order to solve our present challenges with growth, transportation, sustainability, consumer market demands, demographic changes, and how these items affect the design and development of our built environment we have to think and work differently. If we want to solve the problems that we currently face we can’t expect to do so by using the tools that led us to where we are today.