AJ Kandy of “West of the Expressway” has made some perceptive observations on The Economics of Urban Sprawl. Not only do the suburbs exterminate culture, they may be an economic drain all-around. It’s great to make the decision to not buy a gas guzzler, but how about designing our lives so we drive less to begin with?
The eventual realization of these economic consequences may result in the End of Suburbia, looks like an interesting documentary, analyzing “the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world.” It probably won’t be coming to a theater near you, but they do encourage public screenings. Anyone up for one in Omaha?
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Tom Nemitz said,
January 6, 2005 @ 12:04 pm
I’ll have you know, David Kah-davey, my new truck gets better gas mileage than my sports coupe ever did. I never saw the better side of 12 miles/gallon with the GT. I routinely see the grand majesty of 25 miles/gallon now, even with the 4 wheel drive on.
Say what you will, pal. But remember this: at least, its not an Expedition. Or worse, a Yukon Denali. The day I drive one of those “surburban mobile homes”, I’ll shut up when you call me out. Until then, well…
j/k
-Tom
AJ Kandy said,
January 6, 2005 @ 1:09 pm
In regards to Tom’s choice of a light truck: That’s the virtues of market competition in action — you get a wide range of choices for your money. And if you really need a 4 x 4 because you drive on unpaved country roads or in snow/ice/flood conditions a lot
…the buyer is certainly well-catered-to.
While it may be fun for us tut-tutting scolds to needle SUV drivers, I think it is more important to look at the problem from the macro level, because that’s the only place from which we can make effective changes in policy.
Individual vehicle choices, in the long run, are irrelevant: what is more critical is that our society’s car-centrism has blinded us to other possibilities.
We have opted, shortsightedly, for a kind of civic development where we have the illusion of choice – “buy any car you want” – instead of real choice, where driving, walking, public transit, or biking are all equally viable and respected options.
Zoning laws prohibit traditional mixed retail / residential / office use: instead, we get “pods” — housing pods, office pods, retail pods, connected with highways and collector roads.
This style of development means there are many places in North America where you simply cannot participate in daily life without using a car. You cannot walk to a corner store to pick up bread and milk: you have to drive 10 minutes to a strip mall surrounded by acres of parking.
In the greater Toronto area, the cities of Brampton and Mississauga are perfect examples of this.
By contrast, traditional neighborhood developments (TNDs) permit mixed-use zoning, and centralize shopping and services within a 5-minute walking distance. Usually there is also a transit hub near the center (metro, light rail, bus stops, etc.) and when designed properly, has several intermeshing, but not tandem, paths for bikes, pedestrians, and cars.
I’ve got some more linkage for you:
First off, check out the Congress for the New Urbanism (www.cnu.org) — an alliance of architects and city planners aimed at basing new development on the TND model.
Novelist, gadfly and former Rolling Stone contributor James Howard Kunstler has an excellent trilogy of books about cities and urbanism: The Geography of Nowhere, Home From Nowhere and Cities In Mind. He blogs at jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com.
Similarly, J.H. Crawford has some intriguing visuals and planning proposals for transit-oriented development in his book Carfree Cities (www.carfree.com).
Underpinning a lot of New Urbanism is the classic work of the California Group of architects led by Christopher Alexander. His books A Pattern Language and The Timeless Way Of Building are classics, and even inspired the idea of “pattern languages” in object-oriented programming.
kadavy said,
January 6, 2005 @ 7:33 pm
You know I am messing with you Tom…I’m still shocked at your purchase, though. 25mpg is pretty good.
Great insight AJ. It will be a long haul to educate everyone, but things may be looking up. Planning was recently in the spotlight in Omaha with Omaha By Design. Members of the community collaborated to develop a plan that focused on using green space and planning more walkable neighborhoods.
But just when I think things are improving, I have to drive by the worst idea since soggy bread, the 114th and Dodge overpass (satired here). This monstrosity will add a second level to a major artery of Omaha, in order to bypass an overdeveloped major intersection. Not only will it not help with traffic, there is absolutely no attempt made to detail the design. It’s just huge octogonal pillars of concrete with ribbons of road on top. I want front row seats when they wake up 20 years from now and tear it down.
Tom said,
January 7, 2005 @ 11:59 am
No offense taken, David.
Speaking of that monstrosity at 114th & Dodge, I drive by the damn thing daily since I work at 108th & Harney, just south of there. Really pisses me off. Those obtrusive pillars are ridiculous. At the very least, they should have used some colored concrete to soften their appearance, like they’ve used in the Twin Cities. Its just so visually jarring, gray concrete sticking up hundreds of feet in the middle of town.
Plus I can’t wait to see out of town farmers get confused and get on the wrong level — and then drive 10 mph while they figure it out. I’m like a kid on Christmas Eve, I can’t wait!!
AJ Kandy said,
January 7, 2005 @ 11:54 pm
Yeah, the Omaha by Design stuff looks way cool.
We recently got a design proposal like that here in Montreal, partly to revive the waterfront (long since cut off by a Chicago-style expressway) by largely demolishing an elevated road and making a real street-level urban boulevard. It’ll make the area desirable again, reconnect two neighborhoods, and make a real gateway to the city. They’re even talking about putting in light rail again!
They’re also demolishing a really terrible, 60s – vintage cloverleaf intersection right at the base of Mount Royal – a dangerous, crumbling eyesore. Slowly but surely, they are getting it.
Tom, I always thought the space under elevated freeways could be used for something, I’ve seen plenty of buildings like that under rail bridges in England. Dunno if you saw that issue of Metropolis, there was a design team that’s actually taking whole sections of the demolished Boston expressway (from the Big Dig) – the steel frame is in sections that are strong enough to use for new construction — so they’re making new buildings out of them.
Courtney Gidts said,
December 21, 2005 @ 9:35 pm
I’ve managed to save up roughly $44035 in my bank account, but I’m not sure if I should buy a house or not. Do you think the market is stable or do you think that home prices will decrease by a lot?
kadavy said,
December 21, 2005 @ 11:02 pm
Courtney,
I wouldn’t say I was qualified to give financial advice, but consider this: myself and a roommate pay about $2000 a month for a condo that is worth about $600k, which isn’t nearly enough to cover such a mortgage. Our landlord has to offer that price just to stay competitive. When it’s cheaper to rent than it is to own, you know something is up.
e c said,
July 30, 2008 @ 3:57 pm
I would have thought all corporate robots would enjoy the speedy ease with which the dodge flyover provides. gets them to their greedy materialistic destinations faster.
It’s just one more piece of evidence that corporate culture shuts out older more experienced workers (because they’re slower and won’t be buying into the NEW and IMPROVED suburban structure by buying new houses,new cars and other crap and junk no one needs)(also usually dont feed on caffeine and adrenalin) and ignores the results of things like welfare to work participants (if they can get a job) (usually dont have cars and use mass transit)and if your’e not as shiny and new as those houses and cars and roads then you just don’t fit in.