City Culture

“The Evolution of U.S. Cities Into Child-Free Playgrounds” (Opinion, Dec. 13) is yet another nostalgia-ridden attack on postmodern urban space. Joel Kotkin laments that, due to the decline of families in major cities, “urban life will continue to evolve in its postmodern form, but without the common touch of humanity that only the sight and sound of children can bring.” Apparently singles, gays, childless couples and the homeless or, as Kotkin refers to us, those “more tolerant of deviancy,” do not fit into his view of humanity. For Kotkin, “normative culture in America” will increasingly be defined by “the ethnically and economically homogeneous suburbs.”

What he doesn’t bother to mention is that it is precisely this “normative culture” of suburban life, with its dysfunctional families, racial intolerance and homophobia, that is driving many young singles to urban centers. Kotkin shouldn’t assume that his own narrow definition of “humanity” is universal.

BRETT COKER

San Francisco