Given that the vast majority of Americans seem to agree that dangerous climate change is happening, you’d think their actions would reflect that. Yet, when it comes to urban and suburban design, and how we all live together, it’s basically baby steps in the face of an oncoming dragon.
While there are signs of different models of community development gaining traction, it’s amazing how much fuss putting a single bike lane on a city street causes, or how much resistance there is to efforts to create a park out of a stretch of a shoddy freeway access road (both things I’ve seen here in St. Paul, Minnesota). Because so many people have structured their lives around driving quickly between various points, that still seems to trump nearly everything else, even in this age of higher gas prices and assumptions that the oil era is slowly (or even quickly) on its way out.
Over the years, I have watched the planning processes unfold for a series of inner city bike trails, for a light-rail train network, and for creating more “green space” within our two cities (Minneapolis-St. Paul). And while some great strides have been made, I have noticed that even the planners are at odds with themselves. On the one hand, sharing the visions they have for what probably would be a healthier, more integrated community, and on the other hand, saying and doing anything and everything to appease the pissed off people that show up complaining about reduced speed limits, reduced car parking, and any perceived loss of ease in getting around quickly.
I know my fairly progressive city isn’t alone on all this. And frankly, it’s much worse in many areas of the country.
As someone who has never been a car driver, I look in wonder when people claim to “know their community.” How can you truly know your community when you spend the majority of your time whizzing through it in a plastic and metal bubble? When you don’t even know your neighbor’s name? When you haven’t a clue what plants grow along the wayside and in the alleys?
I know this state of ignorance doesn’t describe everyone. I can even think of counter-examples in my own community here, like the highly connected block where my mother lives. There are also all the community gardens that have sprung up in the past decade, sometimes bringing together large parts of entire neighborhoods.
However, these examples haven’t really translated for the most part into how we collectively handle the larger communities we live in. Big business, especially Big Oil, still run the show far too much. We are also still driven by car-centric design, even in fairly progressive places. It’s like there are these little enclaves tucked away here and there within a sea of people living in the same space, but sharing little if anything else.
What’s it going to take? When will our stated concerns about the planet and our communities translate into significant, collective action? The dragon of climate change isn’t going to wait for us to get our act together. Its fire is already burning some of us. In my view, only radical change will prevent it from burning us all.
Photo Credit:
Defense government photo essay via Wikimedia Commons
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