For years, home ownership has been seen as the surest path of rising into the middle class and the most significant source of savings for many families. So how could it be that buying a single-family home has made so many people in this country worse off?

The answer is simple, according to John Wasik, author of a recently released book that examines the housing crisis, "The Cul-De-Sac Syndrome: Turning Around the Unsustainable American Dream."

"The whole premise of the 'Cul-De-Sac Syndrome' is we hit a dead end," he said. "We hit a wall of unaffordability. I want to convey the idea that we are building, selling and developing communities that are not sustainable."

Families who believed that they were getting the deal of a lifetime courtesy of low mortgage rates became victims of the syndrome: They borrowed more than they could afford, moved farther out from central cities and gambled on home appreciation.

More than half of American homeowners with a mortgage owed more than they owned at the end of 2008, according to Mr. Wasik. About 7.5 million homeowners were spending more than half of their income on housing costs.

One of the primary causes of the housing bust was that homes cost too much to begin with, he said, forcing Americans to take desperate measures to obtain financing.

Now they are struggling to keep those homes, which often requires two incomes and the loss of family and community life due to being constantly on the road while their children are spending 10 to 12 hours a day in day care. With unemployment rising and commuting costs up, many families can't make it work anymore.

"Sprawling urban areas with no public transit or connection to a central city ... will become ghost towns if high energy prices return and persist," he writes, adding that both scenarios are likely in a healthy economy.

Mr. Wasik, a personal finance columnist for Bloomberg News based in Chicago, wrote his book based on interviews and research over several years of reporting on the national and global economy.

Part of his research included looking at data that could help predict which U.S. cities offer the best opportunities for home appreciation for people looking to relocate or retire.

Pittsburgh is one of about a dozen cities he picked that are primed for growth. Others include Kansas City, Mo.; St. Louis; Austin, Texas; Lexington, Ky.; and Des Moines, Iowa.

"I think the future for Pittsburgh is very rosy," Mr. Wasik said. "It was not subject to the excesses of the housing bubble. It has so many amenities, a great housing stock and a great location."

He reported on the collapse of Pittsburgh's steel industry in the early 1980s, including its aftermath. Through the years, he said, he has kept track to see how a city that depended on one industry could rebuild itself.

"Pittsburgh has absolutely blossomed," Mr. Wasik said. "I know the whole evolution, and Pittsburgh has gone through an incredible makeover and gelled into a great livable city.

"For baby boomers who will become the wealthiest generation in history -- assuming they recover from the recession -- Pittsburgh offers quite a bit in terms of affordable living, cultural life, nightlife and places to walk, compared to other East Coast cities."

Nationally, it may take years for the most troubled markets to recover, he said. Meanwhile, the housing crisis could offer a chance for families to look at how they live and embrace change that can improve the quality of their lives.

Whereas the American dream became an obsession with ever-bigger homes, Mr. Wasik said that in the future, people need to think of ways to build homes and cities that are more suitable for the global environment.

"Homes shouldn't be energy hogs in the future," he said. "We can go to modular homes built in factories. Think of all the people we could put back to work and make homes more affordable.

"We need to move away from the McMansion ideal. Energy prices will rise, so we have to keep an eye on the cost of producing a house. If we are going to really come out of the recession with new ideas, we need forward thinking."