Every motorist is aware of the monotonous new communities, the clusters of little pastel houses, which have mushroomed up overnight within a thirty-mile radius of most American cities. Have they been planned with forethought or simply with a rich profit in mind? Robert Moses, who puts the question, is an authority on parks, highways, housing, and municipal and state planning. In his thirty years of participation in New York's city and state governments, he has served every governor since Al Smith and both Mayors La Guardia and O'Dwyer. He has recently completed a report for the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, on its needed public improvement.

On realizing how many homes were being foreclosed upon and sitting empty, some Southern California skateboarders got an idea.

An Atlantic editor here chronicles some of the high and low moments of a journey of discovery, of hope and illumination. For him and most of his companions, the trip was their first real experience in the black ghettos.