All across America, an important trend in housing-families moving out of the big cities-has been changing the landscape and ecology of America. While some are just moving to the inner suburbs, many are moving to the far edges of metropolitan areas and others are moving out entirely, back to small cities and small towns or even into the countryside and the wildlands. This trend, called "ex-urbanization," began in the 1970s, slowed in the 1980s, but picked up again in the 1990s.