Think [the box] ing discussion

Howard Kunstler, in his book “The Geography of Nowhere”, wrote about the decline in esthetic living space in western countries, particularly in the US. Cities and towns that once had a sense of place, individual character, and areas where on could walk around and feel unhurried enjoyment, have given way to, well, as he puts it: nowhere.

Nowhere means that it all looks pretty much the same, anywhere you might be in North America, and increasingly, elsewhere. Communities have favored the movement of cars over the enjoyment of civic space, utility over esthetic, speed over livability. Over time, this has led to a kind of “truck stop”, linear city, stretching for many miles down highways and traffic arteries. These tend to look the same in any location: a repeating row of chain stores with garish signs, and acres of parking replacing pedestrian accessible shops, parks, and public space.

Needless to say, these dispersed areas have implications for energy use, but Kunstler also muses about what this type of urban environment does to our human psychology. What happens to our sense of place, of community, our connection with other people? Are we becoming less social and more isolated by being enclosed in our cars? What happens when we loose public space, such as parks, sidewalks, and city squares, and consequently the random interactions we may have with others while there? Kunstler argues that there are very negative outcomes, including an increasing sense of isolation, selfish and asocial behaviors, and a lack of support for social institutions and civic life.

Looking around my part of the world (British Columbia), I can identify some of these developments, and see it more so in other areas, such as California and Alberta. What do posters think? Do you lament the passing of older urban landscapes? Or do you think we function quite well with the modern? What kind of change does the urban environment make in us, if any?

I absolutely agree with the concerns. My own state of Oregon is a beautiful state which had hitherto escaped much of what destroyed eastern states and more populous states..but now the influx of people and the marching rows of tract housing, of chain carbon copy stores, resturants,franchaises,and asphalt worship and the exploitation of natural beauty thru throwing up incongruous buildings thru which to "view that beauty" , along with the loss of unique local "institutions" on "valuable land"..to be replaced with denser, more lucrative development etc. is a common complaint of older locals who feel the state is being "Californicated". Fortunately, we have already set aside much are for parks and natural preserves...especially in urban areas..which has now been recognized as prescient and preventing their loss. I am hopeful that the cost of gasoline will go UP and force a greater reliance on mass transit and a slow-down in highway building but population growth alone is part of the ruination of our environment. Where deer, and other critters used to wander, the development has left little places for them to live, leaving mainly, the urban survivor, the coyote to live in our neighborhoods.
The increased pace of "redevelopment" and sprawl is a ffecting once backwaters where local charm brought afictionados back to local oasises of novelties like giant trees and peaceful little places..Kauai's Koloatown had huge and old trees...cut down to put in an asphalt parking lot and a strip mall just like others 20 minutes away, and devastating to some local quirky old-time shops. In Mexico, megaresorts are replacing the lovely and aesthetic "real Mexico" resorts which were unique and perfect and old natural landscapes are being cut into to erect multiple units for timeshares tourists. AWFUL. How to preserve reverence for the landscape when its so artificial and commercial.?

The nearby towns show the new construction off very well; Frankfort, Shelbyville & Louisville, KY. The older parts of town are 'quaint'. The roads are tree lined, the stores close together & nice looking. Expanded areas are wide open spaces with huge parking lots, no trees & could be any where in the US (world?). No lawns, just parking. Ugly.

It seems that most folks don't know their neighbors any more. I don't understand this attitude, but have found it even out in the boonies where I live, although less than in suburban neighborhoods. There folks live closer together & seem to know each other less.

Everyone is self-sufficient - they have the means now. It wasn't that way 50 years ago. Folks shared garden produce & other things since they didn't have as much. Now, everyone seems to have everything, so there is less need to interact. Our lives are busy, usually running hither & yon in the car, frantically trying to get kids to soccer, school plays, ourselves to work, the gym & such. How often do you see someone just sitting on the front porch waving at the passers by?

Since moving to Toronto nearly 4 years ago I've noticed it too. I didn't notice it as much back home but it's there too. As we drive north from the city and pass by Vaughn and Orillia, for example, new housing developments are being built. The houses are terraced (joined together) and compact, there are trees, but I look at these streets and think "where's the corner shop? Where's the park?" You can see quite clearly from the highway that there's nothing like that there.

Then you turn to the other side and see the Big Box Stores. I loathe these, with their giant car parks and big signs. Makes me shudder. The only way to get there is to drive, of course.

I heard that in the Netherlands, for example, when they design new developments the first thing they do is plan out the public transit and bike paths, and roads/streets come last. European countries have less space and they have more experience with making the most of it, I think, whereas countries like my own, Australia, and Canada and the US have had a glut on space and sprawl, and are now regretting it.

Sadly, the developers aren't wise or caring. They just know what makes a quick turnover for them. City planners lack either imagination or guts. It's a dreary world we've created, I sometimes think.

We are indeed losing it...We are losing living space, breathing space, and all of the unique, natural settings we have loved. Its not just the developers. It is the incredible population growth that has outstripped our appreciation for what must sacrifice for that. Such growth requires in tearing down single family dwellings or smaller structures for high rises etc for more "intense use", giving up park land or undeveloped natural landscapes, and depriving other species of their natural habitats...and then killing them when they impinge on what we have taken for exclusive use of our voracious species.

This summer we did some traveling in BC and Alberta. Arriving in a smaller town in Alberta, we decided to stop, get out of the car and look around. Easier said than done. Development in this (newer) town had so dispersed itself in a linear pattern centering on a few major highways, that there really was no center. No place that one could call “here”, I’m in the town. Of course, one could pick a business, a hotel or restaurant to stop at, but walking from one to the next closest would have been tedious if not impractical. Often a hundred yards or more of parking lots, major traffic arteries, or simply empty space along a busy highway separated one establishment from it’s neighbour. Sidewalks were in scarce supply. We kept going.

I marveled during the trip over the waste of space and energy in these “modern” designs. But I also wondered what people thought of being so tied to their cars. And also how connected they felt to fellow inhabitants, few of whom they would ever encounter by chance, except seeing them go by sealed in their cars. Life would truly be funneled to those destinations where one had a good reason to be, and those only. No taking time to just enjoy the environment; indeed, not much of an environment waste much time on anyway. Ruthless utilitarianism to say the least, and for no apparently useful reason in this relatively affluent part of the country.

I think popular ideas about technology, and more broadly, culture, are important in this. Population is an issue certainly, but as Shannon has pointed out, some societies do fairly well with high population densities, Holland for one. A lot can be done, even with modestly high expectations for a standard of living. In Asia, even higher population densities are accepted quite readily, although some countries there now have their sites set on the California style of development as their goal. It depends on what is valued in the public eye. Speed, convenience, and outright materialism are values that still have a lot of appeal today. I think in this part of the world we have to get back to placing a higher value on esthetics, and accepting public space as having value, and in fact accepting public space as something to be shared in a respectful manor. These are ideas that are becoming remote in the minds of many. Less consumption, which seems to be ahead, one way or the other, will require more shared space, and better use of what we have.

Geoff wrote: "This summer we did some traveling in BC and Alberta. Arriving in a smaller town in Alberta, we decided to stop, get out of the car and look around. Easier said than done. Development in this (newer..."

i definitely agree with you, geoff.
i used to live in downtown pittsburgh, and we are absolutely losing our forests, beaches, lakes and valleys to walmarts (technically not all the places covering up our planet are owned by walmart, but i thought it was a good example.) because i've lived there since i was a baby, i hardly noticed pollution from all the taxis, cars, and buses.add that will how almost every other month something is being built, and we have a fulll-scale issue here. i didn't think much of it beacuse i thought that was just part of living in the city.
my ideas changed pretty quickly once we moved out to the country. i'd never seen a full forest before, and was fasinated at all the wildlife everywhere. the air is also really..er.. clean here. no smog. but back to the issue.
i'm not the greatest at this whole urbanization thing here, so deal w/ me: my theory is that our culture is more into, say speed then an actual sense of community. dont get me wrong (i'm a city girl at heart) i loved living in the city and all the exercise i got walking everywhere: school, grocrey shopping, dinner, church. but its kind of nice (creepy other times) to go into a diner and have everyone know your name (sorry, CHEERS moment). but cities do have their disadvantages.. 1. theirs the obviously the problem of so many people, which usually leads to 2. crime (mugging, stealing, vandalism) and/or 3. major pullution. like shannon, i don't think population is the problem here.
maybe it has more to do with our reliance on technology. how would our cities be different if not every esec relied on a taxi to get to the job, and mcdonalds wasn't so convenient a cheap compared to other places that it just eaiser to eat your 750 calories of the (*yum) angus deluxe burger than pay more or pack a lunch.

Sounds like an interesting book, Geoff. Thanks for sharing about it!

As an American, I can completely relate to the concerns about needing cars to get anywhere and share disdain for the "concrete jungle" we've erected.

As for the topic of alienation, another book that touches on that is Erich Fromm's "The Sane Society." In case anyone might be interested.