GREEN TO THE PEOPLE: SIERRA BONITA

The pioneers of the green-design movement, in the 1960s and 70s, fled from cities. In retreating "back to the land," they pursued a new kind of life in better balance with nature and the rhythm of the outdoors and the seasons. The first experiments in sustainable architecture were mostly hand-built houses far from city centers. With their sod roofs and retaining walls made from old tires, they made a polemical statement not only about living more lightly on the land but also about the benefits of moving far from the crowded streets and sidewalks of the world's big cities.

These days, though, a growing body of research and design energy is making the case that cities -- or at least well-planed cities -- are among the most efficient ecological organisms ever devised by man. In helping residents share resources, in promoting walkability and in making transit economically feasible, cities can be more efficient than rural areas and far more efficient than sprawling suburbs.

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