Congested roads and highways, long commutes, smog, pollution and loss of productivity are often cited for America's economic woes and the gradual decline in that elusive "quality of life" aspect of living in some of our finest cities.

Some believe the decline of our cities started in 1939 at the World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. The most popular exhibition was The World of Tomorrow in the General Motors Pavilion. It featured an enormous model of a city of the Future, complete with elevated freeways, on-ramps and off-ramps and gleaming skyscrapers separated by miles and miles of asphalt.

For General Motors and for the rest of America, the vision became reality, as more and more roads were built across the country and more and more families were able to purchase their own automobiles.

Only now, over 66 years later, are we beginning to change the lens in our camera and see the need for a new and vastly different vision of our future and the role of cities. In a very real sense, the shift from an industrial to an information society is the raison d'être for revisiting the American love affair with the automobile and asking some very tough questions about its role in the new economy. By doing so, we will begin to open the door to new thinking about the architecture of our cities and renewing their place in our lives.

One of the more interesting paradoxes -- particularly for regions struggling to divine "smart growth" solutions -- is that the more we live and work in cyberspace, the more important real place becomes. While this notion runs counter to much of today's popular literature, we are already seeing the knowledge worker and high-tech, knowledge-sensitive industries migrating to highly livable communities. They are places with mountains or lakes, open spaces, clean air and water, and -- as in the case of Portland, Ore., and other communities that have established urban-growth boundaries -- less reliance on the automobile as the primary mode of transportation.

The growing concern with urban sprawl, coupled with the nostalgic yearning, which the "new-urbanism" movement represents, is evidence of sweeping changes in public attitude toward physical space. As the Internet revolution moves into full bloom, however, there is every reason to believe it could have a dramatic impact on the architecture and landscape of communities throughout the world. For no technology in human history is having, or is likely to have, such tremendous influence on life and work and play, and in the transforming process -- and if we are thoughtful -- on our physical space.

Automobiles did not appear in significant numbers until after World War I. When it arrived it came like the Internet itself, as a whirlwind, allowing for the first time people and goods to travel efficiently from place to place, and in a way that maximized individual freedom. No longer would Americans be restricted to train or trolley or stagecoach schedules, nor be dependent upon the slow pace of the horse-drawn carriage. They could now travel where and when they wanted to go. Thus the introduction of the automobile cemented and reinforced the drive toward individualism that is perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of American culture. That was the good news.

The automobile's impact did not end there, however. In the post-World War II era, as the automobile became a mass commodity within reach of the middle and even lower strata of society, it also made possible a large-scale exodus from America's central cities to the suburban fringe. This move was in response to -- and ultimately accelerated -- the many serious social problems that still threaten American cities today. These difficulties range from racial and social segregation of U.S. society to daunting problems of urban sprawl and environmental degradation.