Why Do We Love the Suburbs?
That’s another way of framing this question from Kevin Drum:
Why Do We Hate our Cities?
But I’ll play along and just say there’s plenty of anti-urban bias to go around, including among nature-loving greens who have historically loathed cities. So the larger problem, I’d argue, is as much cultural as it is political.
The trick is trying to embrace a green lifestyle without cities. When I gave up my car in 1990 as my symbolic green act, I had no idea how it would influence my life choices going forward.
Not being a farmer, I had to plan job choices, apartment preferences, commuting plans, proximity to shopping, and more all with the idea of not having a car.
I don’t regret it for a second. But had I known how much work it would involve and some of the limitations it imposed, I might not have been so cavalier about making the decision.
I would not have been able to do it without the existence of modern cities equipped with the latest technologies and amenities–at least I wouldn’t have been able to do it in the style I wanted.
For the record, I end up using a cab (in SF, where I live) once or twice a month and rent a car about every other month. The money I save on car payments, insurance, parking, gas and tickets pretty much gets sucked into higher rents for apartments located in an area I can live in.
Worth it? Yes. Painless? No. And if we want people to make greener choices in the developed world, there’s a bit more work to do to make those choices attractive.
The US shifted away from being primarily an agrarian society after the invention of the automobile.
I didn’t have an automobile when I lived in the suburbs of London or Tokyo. I didn’t need one and I didn’t miss not having one.
The suburbs of London and Tokyo were built around the public transportation. The suburbs of the US were built around roads.
One of the best books I’ve read on the U.S. shift is The Crabgrass Frontier, by Kenneth Jackson.
Any of you seen the movie ‘Cars’?
If you’re goin’ hard enough left, you’ll find yourself turnin’ right