The tragedy of suburbia

[Chacal Profile Website]

This guy is great. I'm living what he describes first-hand in a city here in Canada I have to go to frequently. I fly there and use cabs to go around. It is almost impossible to cross the street on foot, and the nearest grocery store is 30 minutes away on foot. It's an endless sprawl of Wal-Marts and shopping centers.

A little long-winded perhaps, but he's fascinating.

The tragedy of suburbia

James Howard Kunstler may be the world’s most outspoken critic of suburban sprawl.

In James Howard Kunstler's view, public spaces should be inspired centers of civic life and the physical manifestation of the common good. Instead, he argues, what we have in America is a nation of places not worth caring about. Reengineering our cities will involve more radical change than we are prepared for, Kunstler believes, but our hand will be forced by earth crises stemming from our national lifestyle. "Life in the mid-21st century," Kunstler says, "is going to be about living locally."


http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/107

[TiNM@N Profile]

wow, thought it was going to be a boring 20 minutes but now that it's over I wish it was longer. Had a lot of good humor mixed it in with a strong message. Good find Chical

[cavalierlwt Profile]

Great find Chacal, so true. I hardly ever get back to my hometown, so when I do, I see all the changes at once. They've utterly ruined it, I didn't even recognize it the last time I was there. Massive intersections bordered by pharmarcies, banks, and parking lots. It's so ugly that literally I didn't even feel a sense of homesickness or nostalgia.

One nearby city on the otherhand fought against it, held the line at their downtown area. They still have large crowds in their downtown area, coffee shops, bars/taverns,restaurants with outdoor seating, millions of small weird shops, bars etc. The only way to get around is to walk, you basically park in this giant parking garage and then walk about 50 yards to the downtown section, it's all sort of packed in there. Great place to go on a summer night, it's like a giant social event.

I read an article about it and it's amazing how many of the issues Kunstler talked about were addressed by this city planner.
http://www.southofboston.net/specialreports/quincyrehab/pages/2c.shtml

They even have wierd little alleyway shops.

[Chacal Profile Website]

Yes, that's exactly what it's all about. Many towns still have that kind of downtown area, I only hope they'll survive long enough for the trend to change and the giants to die.

[Namloot Profile Website]

Very good.

[gowhitesox99 Profile]

saw your post on vaca had to wait to get home to watch it, interesting. However dropping an early F bomb soured me as he sounds like an intelligent guy, why drop an F bomb and making yourself sound ignorant?

I see his point, but I like my space. I hate going into the city (chicago) where everything is jammed together. My city is a suburban city that has a nice little downtown area, (10ish blocks) and I like that. i can still walk to the grocery store and prolly 5 parks within 1 mile for the kids to ride their bikes. I dont need EVERYTHING within walking distance. I like open spaces and cheap prices for stuff at Samsclub.

A friend lives about 30 mins west of me and the house was cheap but all the stores are far away, at least 3-5 miles.

LOL I like the vegas school with the 1 bush across the street and the big fence around it.