CST and the City: Looking for Advice

As the 2007 Journal of Catholic Social Thought Conference  on CST and the Law approaches, I''ve been mulling over ideas for the 2008 conference. One that occured to me is really just a phrase at this point: "CST and the City." I am wondering what CST has to tell us about the conundrums we face in deciding what sort of communities we want to live in physically. What spaces, physical settings are most conducive to community? What does CST mean  by "community"? Is there a relationship between the evolving Catholic thinking about the environment and ways to think about urban planning? Is exburban sprawl a form of 'social sin''? Is Ave Maria Town really "Catholic" in its self-conception as a community and in its environmental implications? Naturally, all of the familiar threshold questions about CST as a guide, inspriration or source of authority for complex practical problems apply here as well, particularly when we move to the legal implications. Problem is, I know even less about this stuff than I do about most 0other things. Thoughts, reactions, suggestions from both my fellow blogistas and readers would be welcome as I try to figure out whether this would be worth exploring. Rick and Nicole Garnett -- I know you have some interesting ideas about all this...

--Mark