Citizens are clearly ready to break their addiction to driving. Even in smaller cities not normally known for urban living, young adults are flocking to downtown housing from which they can walk to work. Even before gasoline prices spiked, property values began rising in neighborhoods served by public transportation and declining in far-flung areas dependent on automobiles. For quality-of-life reasons, young families are choosing to remain in the city when children arrive. Isolated living on a suburban lane lined with minivans seems to hold little appeal.

(Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the author of “Just Wondering, Jesus,” and the founder of the Church Wellness Project, http://www.churchwellness.com. His Web site is http://www.morningwalkmedia.com.)