Healthy Community Design

A speaker was visiting our community (I did not attend) who talked about healthy communities. The topic was why don't we stop separating housing and commercial areas. If housing and commercial areas were more mixed, it would promote healthier lifestyles since people wouldn't have to drive everywhere. This got me thinking about the last 5 homes I lived in, none of them were walking distance to anything. If you think about the San Jose area, there are several newer town home communities built around or near shopping areas. While these are ideal they are way too crowded. This got me thinking that we have been going all wrong with community development. The communities should be centered around shopping areas and parks, with smaller homes, apartments, then lead outward into larger lots, almost like mini-cities (with urban and suburban environments)...