Throughout the 20th century, cities have undergone massive movements from metropolitan high density city centers, toward low density urban sprawl and suburbanization. This has been accompanied by highway projects connecting outer residential areas to the city centers. To early suburbanites this became the new American dream; to have a single family house with a yard and an automobile. Suburban neighborhoods promised safety through privacy, and freedom, with the vast miles of automobile roads built to connect one from wherever they choose to live, to wherever they choose to work.
The vision of autonomous single unit houses spread out in residential neighborhoods and connected by am intricate system of roads, has been mass realized and the result has been for many, less than dreamy. The tolls of inefficient and individualistic land use have affected us in many realms, from the psychological/social, to the monetary/environmental realm. Despite this, ticky-tacky suburbs keep appearing, with grand developers names written on the front gates including HC Elliott, Pulte, Centex, Shea etc…perpetrating problems of isolation, tax revenue waste, pollution, and wasted time. There is however, a relatively small yet growing movement, comprised of individuals who are fed up with this way, and who are taking steps to create new ways to live; ways that value efficiency, community, sustainability, and good health.
These villages known as pedestrian cities, compact communities, green villages, and urban unsprawl have come to reality based on the principles of a growth philosophy called new urbanism. In the following pages I'll seek to catalogue the problems of a growing suburbia, and then introduce the vision of new urbanism, how close some cities are coming to that vision, and why I feel such a vision provides the way for a better life.
The suburban dream has failed people in its promise of safety. Yes, people are cloaked in privacy which has unfortunately been linked to safety in a country whose news media demands we fear the city, the youth, the immigrants, the poor, and everybody we've never met before, but the greatest actual threat to our safety has been the automobile and our huge dependence on it as a sole mode of transport. In addition to the 40,000 automobile deaths a year, there are the deaths from our war seeking to protect our oil overseas. Not to mention the danger unknown pollutants emitting from peoples fuel exhausts poses to people's health. People cannot be safer where community has eroded into single family units. People cannot take care of one another if they are not aware of and interested in one another.
The suburban dream has likewise failed people in its promise of freedom. In fact the automobile and all its attendant needs has made us anything but free. Sure, people are free to drive to stores and offices and friends houses, but they are no longer free to walk there. The orientation of where we live and the things we need to live are far too spread out making impossible the life of a pedestrian. It has also taken our freedom to keep our money. It costs thousands of dollars each year to maintain the ability to drive legally. I calculated the cost of driving my old gas efficient Honda to be over 4000 a year. This includes gas, depreciation, insurance, license and registration, parking, and maintenance. From where I'm standing, the automob are not free to keep hundreds of dollars for our own use Subrbanites are car slaves. If we wake up feeling sick we often choose to go to work because we have to pay our bills, but if our car wakes up sick wedoesn't start one morning blah blah. We have also lost the freedom of time. Many of us have to devote two plus hours a day simply to get to work and back. This is time removed from potentially playing ball with our children, volunteering, developing a hobby, reading a book, etc… We pay an enormous time tax for the privilege of living in a detached home in a gated nationhood with a yard and a dog.
Suburbia has been a huge money drain on our taxes and an inefficient way to allocate our resources. Sprawling neighborhoods demands miles of extra roads and utility piping. In denser residential neighborhoods the water pipes and electricity lines can reach many more people with far less initial and upkeep expense. If our taxes were not sucked into the money pit called roads we could actually keep that money in our purses, or see it go to the development of top notch schools, parks, paths, and trains. It could also go to fund the realistic rehabilitation of those who have fallen on hard times so as to truly end the “problem of homelessness”.
Many espouse the benefits of modern suburban life. They have never dreamed of walking with their child from their residence to the market or deli, bumping into the family across the footstreet on the way, feeling safety for the kids to play while a spontaneous conversation ensues. They have never viewed paintings of Italian footvillages with a sense of longing. Perhaps they find everything they need in the radio music or talk shows which entertain their long commute. They would be horrified at the idea that their car, which has become an extension of their identity, may be unnecessary, and may say “I hate traffic but I love my ride”. Those in love with suburbia and cars have not been offended by the waste or made the connection of high taxes to this style of life.
There are those however, who have had it with the waste and who long for a village style community, and for a ten minute walk to actually take you out of the residential zone. They long for neighbors they know and a community that is supportive and close. Many of those have finally found success through careful planning and organization, in creating communities that are more than a word on a sign in Roseville. They have created pedestrian cities and compact communities that allow car ownership to be a choice rather than a necessity. These villages have successfully taken advantage of population density to become ecologically and monetarily efficient in order to put more resources into the sustainable health of the community. This includes solar projects, tree planting campaigns, charter schools, and extensive trails and usable waterways.
Public transportation is another important aspect a villagesque city. The primary way for people to get around should not have to be a car. Trolley style buses are my favorite because they are attractive (aesthetics should not be ignored in any aspect). A consolidated population makes this task a simple one because it is much more cost effective to move 30 people half a mile than to move five people five miles (these are not meant to be exact figures). Other considerations are golf cart like electric vehicles.
