A recent “Guardian story”:http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,1418173,00.html provides insight into what our new US “exurbs”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exurb look like to the UK:

“As US towns sprawl into the countryside, creating anonymous zones dominated by soulless malls, one of Britain’s leading historians asks if it could happen here…”

Scariest quote:

“After a closely fought referendum, Phoenix, a city of 3.5 million (roughly half the population of London), has only just agreed to a light-rail system.”