"I will be discussing the decrease in civic engagement in the past 50 years in America as documented by Robert Putnam's book BOWLING ALONE. I will suggest several strategies that used to try to solicit moral behavior in citizens. The first strategy derives from Jeremy Bentham's model prison or panopticon. One guard, strategically placed, can monitor the behavior of all prisoners, thereby ensuring good behavior. I will suggest that this has been the United States' model for the past hundred years or so, culminating in the proliferation of closed circuit cameras in many public spaces. And I will discuss the work of Michel Foucault, DISCIPLINE AND PUNISH in this context.

But this strategy only ensures avoidance of anti-social behavior; it in no way encourages civic engagement. Instead, I argue that the dispersal of the United States' population into suburban environments from city and town centers has had a significant and detrimental effect on our willingness to engage socially with other citizens. I will draw from the writings of New Urbanist architects and city planners to make the case that suburban living detracts substantially from civic engagement."