The tragedy of surburbia [updated]

Update: I’ve added a few thoughts on the jump.

James Howard Kunstler bluntly makes the case against America’s urban design, specifically suburbia. His argument centers on the cultural consequences of how we live. This is interesting because it is so rarely discussed.

I’ve posted the video below and added comments on the jump. The talk is 20 minutes long. I know your attention span is much more limited than that, but make the time to watch this — seriously.

I disagree with how Kunstler frames what needs to happen. Drastic changes tend not to happen, especially when there are vested interests that stand to lose from it happening. Because the economy is so dependent on mobile consumers and workers, the car and the urban landscape it enables will always be with us to some extent. I think the expanse is negotiable though.

There will be an alternative fuel for cars eventually. So we’ll still have the capability for this lifestyle and economic system to continue. Therefore the quasi-doomsday and paradigm shifting scenario that Kunstler suggests is not likely.

The time between when oil becomes too expensive or scarce or both and what’s next is the moment for change. It’s then that we can — or will be forced to — raise expansive mass transit and engage in growth that isn’t contingent on driving everywhere. But without some impetus — like $4 or $5 or $10 a gallon gas — there is no incentive for change.

Fortunately I think that time is coming and it will yield some of the changes Kunstler suggests. For example, developing or redeveloping “town center” communities instead of “bedroom” communities. Oregon’s Orenco Station is a good example of this:

We see suburbs becoming more diverse, more interesting, more neighborly, and more like complete communities instead of just bedrooms. Some, such as Oregon’s Orenco Station, are actually planned around mass transit. With a four-block walk to the light rail, Orenco Station has a town center filled with shops, cafes, and restaurants. The award-winning 260-acre development, begun in 1997, focuses on the pedestrian and light-rail commuter rather than the classic car-centric suburbanite. The neighborhood itself is arranged around parks and a bustling Main Street

I know there are similar developments around the country meaning that there’s already a market for a non-car centric suburb. To Kunstler’s delight, the coming moment for change might inspire more of them to be built.

Brian,
while kunstler may suffer from the affliction of dealing solely with upper tier intellectuals, i think his ideas for a sustainable culture should not be cast off to some hypothesized post-oil landscape. It is true that drastic change does not easily come in todays consumer/corporation AMERICA, and perhaps the shift will not come until it is forced upon us. But should not ideals be voiced in their purest form? This is only the gap between ethically driven Thought and a reality governed by “the bottom line”. And can we not draw value from these thoughts today? While he touches too lightly upon it for my taste, kunstler does mention how unhealthy for the psyche growing up in this diconnected (to nature and man), dreary, and increasyly false environment is. So often western culture, like our medicine, seeks to annihilate the symptoms of our problems while missing the source. Rather than only treating the psychological cancer that is creeping into our culture with therapy and perscription drugs, why not also seek its source? Don’t get me wrong, i’m not some kind of scientologist, i believe in psychiatry and remedying chemical imbalances, but this is not a complete solution.
In any case, kunstler’s is exactly the kind of thought that will lead us into the future. A shift into conscious stewardship of humanity would be the moral thing to do. Escape from the mentality that change cannot occur , for that is the only thing holding it back.

Sorry it took me so long to respond. For some reason I didn’t see your comment.

In theory, you’re completely right. My take is that a lot of people have the blinders on. So when they hear that this gambit we’ve been running off of petroleum for the past 50 years is almost up, they don’t believe it and tune it out.

Drastic changes such as ditching the car or suburbs only exacerbates that reaction, in my judgment. Something that is more understandable (and thus attainable) to them is to suggest that maybe they shouldn’t be driving a massive SUV around that only gets 10 mpg when they don’t need it.

It’s shock therapy. Current gas prices have made them susceptible to that suggestion. We just need more shock to serve as a negative stimulus before we proceed much further.

I agree with your assessment on the psyche though. I mean, this just has to mess with someone’s head, right?