The Erosion of Society

There is trend in North America of spreading out as far and as wide as possible. This has the effect of requiring transportation to go from place to place. It also allows for Mega-stores. Neither are necessarily bad in their own right. It is the way that the engineers and designers have chosen to implement the scheme.
People are encouraged to own a house. Banks advertise the low interest rates and show Mom, Dad and the kids all smiling as if out of some Stepford Wives nightmare. This only spreads building and more importantly people further away from each other.
Homeowners now have to maintain the own property. Trim the lawn, make sure that the property generally stays in good repair so that they may continue to live in it. To this end the homeowner is now required to own a vehicle to get a lawnmower and because they are not built to last, intentionally, in a year or two it will have to be replaced. The reason for this is because labor has become so expensive that it is cheaper to just purchase a new item rather than fixing the old.
Labor is so expensive because everyone has to buy a house, a car, a lawnmower and on and on. While this stimulates the economy it makes people busier which gives them less time to socialize face to face. People who don't socialize with others tend to become less trusting of others. This is encouraged by the isolation developed from driving one ton vehicles around.
The solution to this ever growing problem is simple. Design things around personable interaction. Make use of public transportation more convenient then a personal vehicle.  How? well first public transit should be closer to buildings rather than farther away. Sidewalks should be cleared before roads, except routes used by public transportation. This would also give people much needed exercise. It's not a complete solution but following this pattern would be a good start.
Unfortunately this will most likely not happen anytime soon because it would completely destroy the economy as we now no it.

But maybe that's a good thing. ;-)