About country living vs. city living, this links to the first episode of the first season of a PBS series.
http://www.pbs.org/e2/episodes/101_the_green_apple_trailer.html
In that first episode there's a brief comment by someone who moved out of a city, about how much weight he and his wife gained, because in the country they have to drive everywhere, whereas in their former, city-living days, they could walk. That's a certain kind of city, though (NYC)--that developed before car-culture. LA is discussed as the more recent version of a city, with a pretty different kind of 'fabric'.
The series is called e2: Design. It showcases green/sustainable building techniques and concepts, and features various architects and other leading figures in the green building movement (if there's such a thing). General message of the series is that we need to change, but we can do a lot of what we need to do, if we start now and put into practice the best ideas currently available.
It's not about challenging the overall existing structure of society--it shows how we can still have cities and tall buildings, but better versions through green building techniques.
It's purpose seems to be to reassure and cheerlead.
I think, as a practical matter, RFTH won't work--we have to make cities work. Whatever else this series is doing, it's a useful starting point for seeing how to do that.
Oh, did I mention that it's narrated by Brad Pitt? Now you're excited----right?
