Comments on: A Country of Cities

By: Robert

Robert — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 11:34:51 +0000

Imagine not being able to go anywhere when the transit operators are on strike.

Happens periodically in our major cities, and life is a mess until the strike is over.

During these strikes, life in the suburbs and exurbs goes on normally for those who do not have to commute into the city to work.

By: George R. Frantz, AICP

George R. Frantz, AICP — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:52:01 +0000

Ah, yes, round up the usual suspect: the federal government.

The fact is that the land use policies that have resulted in sprawl are the result of local decisionmaking and consumer choices, not federal decisions. And those decisions have been based on race and class and the pursuit of a bizarre, profligate phenomenon known as the American Way of Life.

The American consumer has dug the hole we are in. Consumer choices at the local level are the reason behind white flight, and the reason why our cities have population densities so low as make any transportation alternative other than the automobile impossible without huge (federal government) subsidies except for in a few remote places.

Only when attitudes at the local level change, and land use regulations that place a higher priority on the environment than the single-family detached home and homegeneous neighborhoods are scapped for more environmentally responsible and socially just ones will our cities start approaching anything close to sustainability.

By: Eric Snyder

Eric Snyder — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:04:27 +0000

We need to understand that the ship has been underway in the wrong direction for decades – since the construction of the Interstate system. It will take a long time to shift its course slightly, to say nothing of reversing course. Consider all who have their entire economic well-being dependent upon the old way – there will be no easy way to get their cooperation in the change we desparately need. The only thing that seems to work, in my experience, is a hit in the wallet.
The change we seek will take decades. We need to focus on what immediate pieces we can change in the context of the larger goal.

By: Fran Gretes

Fran Gretes — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:06:46 +0000

Vishaan,
Well done! This is a skilfully crafted warning about the future of our urban environment. You’ve laid down the gauntlet and hopefully others will take action to parry the “Asphalt Lobbyists.”

By: Galia Solomonoff

Galia Solomonoff — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:21:09 +0000

This essay is both provocative and poetic. It dares us to think big and brave. We’ve been trained to be witty and skeptical. It’s a different time; the crisis presents an opportunity to work for a brave collective plan. I interviewed Eladio Dieste in 1995 in Uruguay, he said: “brick layers get excited and work harder when they understand the overall plan, they are just putting one brick after another like they’ve done all their lives, but when they work on these large brick surfaces I feel they hearts in it and it makes me work harder to give voice to their collective dignity”.

A big idea like, a country of cities or public transportation from home to work, can transform every languid step into an energetic one and make the witty skeptic into a brave dignify one.

By: Kaja

Kaja — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:12:25 +0000

The tears of joy for actually having a President Obama in office now seems to make our vision for the future blurry. Miraculously, everything will change now?
Vishaan, I couldn’t agree more with you. I have been writing childish emails to the President for months now, asking him to be more aggressive and stop feeding the asphalt lobby. Instead we need innovation in infrastructure and we need the willingness to produce ‘shovel-worthy’ projects, and we need them in cities.Anyone ever bothered to look up the stimulus projects on this NYC map?
http://gis.nyc.gov/doitt/nycitymap/
the majority of dots refers to a refrigerators replacement program?! that’s it?

By: Mitch McEwen

Mitch McEwen — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:46:35 +0000

Thank you! This country is still recovering from that awful RAND white paper from WWII. The power of think tanks. Want to start one? Invite me.

BTW, is it so hard to imagine a future in which automobile licenses would only be available to professional drivers? Safety, ecology, urbanism, service economy – all in one.

By: Isis Spinola-Schwartz

Isis Spinola-Schwartz — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:07:12 +0000

I very much like the vision of cities or “dense green urbanities surrounded by nothing but nature”. However, the truth is, even with the most idealized visions of the future, what we will end up with is combination of urbanity and sprawl. It is important to envision a more sustainable future, and to work towards that end. The work is just beginning, and this administration cannot change decades of economic and social policy in its first few months. I applaud what the Obama administration has done to date and hope more states will follow California’s path by creating measures such as AB32, promoting sustainable development.