Suburban Nation by Duany, Plater-zyberk and Speck. Another interesting book. Read it, too.

Points to city- and neighborhood-planning as the source of many problems. The design of the neighborhood has lead naturally to isolation and not knowing your neighbor, since you have to drive everywhere. The wide, smooth arcs and wide streets that allow for easy car navigation naturally let drivers go faster, and people don't want to walk, even if there are sidewalks. Even, and perhaps too far, points to the isolation of the neighborhood as leading to teenage problems: the isolated 13-, 14- and 15- year olds either can't wait to drive, or go wild when they finally can.

Says that zoning in 99% of the U.S. does NOT allow the useful, walkable, mixed development of the classic "neighborhood", with shop owners living over the stores, etc. Sprawl is REQUIRED by zoning. Not any one decision, but a series of small mistakes too us to the illogical extreme. If you require parking for retail, you have to have big parking lots which discourage walking, and you naturally get blots on the landscape of big-box retail.

Adovates use of a "traditional neighborhood checklist", with several pages of suggestions.

Points to Congress for New Urbanism at http://www.cnu.org and Traditinoal Neighborhood Development at http://www.dpz.com.