THE COMING CRISIS OF PUBLIC-HEALTH IN THE SUBURBS

A process of urban decay, coupled with forced displacement and behavio ral problems, affects an increasing number of neighborhoods in large U .S. cities. The resulting social disintegration has intensified a nexu s of deviant behaviors and conditions, including substance abuse, that are related to transmission of HIV and resurgence of other contagious diseases. These diseases will diffuse, or are already diffusing, alon g the transportation hierarchy from larger into smaller central cities , and radially from the central cities into the surrounding areas. A w idespread program of urban reform is a critical precondition for the c ontrol of contagious disease in the United States. It also is importan t for housing, social services, housing-related public services, and p ublic health across urban and suburban jurisdictions.