manifesto: suburbia

The author makes the conventional case that suburbia is inefficient. A fairly interesting body of evidence is presented to the effect that it's position as the dominant planning modality is a product of policy, and not, as its advocates would assert, of market forces. I am, myself, a life long advocate for high density urbanism, though not, I must insist, in the conventional sense (which this author proposes). Regardless, I live in a suburban style place - maybe not outright suburbia, but very much suburban in its configurations, and I have lived in suburban places all my life, and I would say they are not the exclusive product of policy. There really is an appeal, paradoxical, perhaps, but something like "open spaces".

At any rate, where I live, the suburban architecture of place utterly dominates, and it will continue to do so. Nor do I hate it so that I would seek to replace it, willy nilly, with something else. And yet, it most certainly is problematic. What, for me, is so problematic, is the approach to life it fosters: when you need something, you jump in your car. There are other problems. You heat and cool the whole house, which is terribly wasteful. As much as a quarter of the land, at a guess, is paved, creating the heat island effect, among other problems. My point is this: while suburbia is problematic, replacing it outright is also problematic. I think there are things we can do to make suburbia more sustainable.

It's true, it's sad that the heavenly wilderness has been replaced by something a bit harsh, and blah, but where this has been done, it has been done, nor is that harsh blah thing completely devoid of charms. I'm inclined to agree, it would be good to resist further expansion of suburbia, and even stop it, though, in that regard, I think an unsubtle approach won't do. That's for another discussion. My mission begins here: to improve suburbia. Not to eliminate it, not to replace it, but to work on it. And the most immediate problems are, in my mind, commuting, and shopping. I want to see what I can do, through strategic initiatives, to encourage working not only near home, but at home, and to replace the shopping trip, in the car, with ... something else. More posts will follow.

Change at scale follows when many people speak with "one voice". I got that from an article about developments on the NASCAR circuit, the other day. This is, in effect, the thinker and writer's work: to craft a message that people can "second". Second my motion. Spread this around. Comment on it.