Meg Kelly explores the controversy behind the stalled redevelopment of the Broadway Triangle, raising questions about the political geography of housing and ethnic integration in a North Brooklyn border zone.

Xenophobia. Unfunded entitlements. Anti-immigrant zeal. More retirees than workers. Crumbling infrastructure. Failing schools. Threats to burn books. Taken together, our national ailments have shaken my belief in a Country of Cities. I have argued on these pages that density and infrastructure, and the diverse ecology they engender, can lead us out of this recession to a greener, leaner nation...