Can Suburban Sprawl Be Saved?
While gas prices have dropped from their historic highs of earlier this summer, many believe they’re never likely to return to the low levels that made the U.S. such a motor-happy nation for decades. Because of that, social observers like James Howard Kunstler and others see a bleak future for car-dependent suburbia, with the sprawl degrading into vast slums or being abandoned altogether.
But does that have to be the case? Suburbs might not have been developed with New Urbanism in mind, but maybe they could be reinvented. Perhaps they could become the 21st Century version of the 18th Century farm community, with lots of individual homesteads dotted across a wide swath of agricultural land.
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Of course, that would require some reinventing on the part of suburbanites as well as of suburbia. It would mean replacing front and back lawns with mini-farms, and learning essential skills like woodworking, animal husbandry, weaving and all other things DIY. It would mean tearing up driveways to create more productive land, getting around by foot or bike, and turning garage spaces and mother-in-law apartments into workshops, gathering areas, schools or mom-and-pop shops. (Which means suburban zoning laws would also have to be radically rewritten.)
Could this all happen? I think it’s possible. After all, I remember a time not too long ago (OK, maybe a little long ago — I’m dating myself here) in which one family in my Chicago neighborhood still kept chickens in the backyard and the closest “convenience” shop was a family-run candy/miscellaneous-goods store operating on the ground floor of a two-flat around the block.
Reinventing suburbia for sustainability, I believe, can be done. Whether it will be in time, on the other hand, is a lot less certain.
What do you think? Can suburbia be saved?
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Is the End of Suburbia Approaching?
the LA Times just featured a story stating that California is introducing legislation to limit the extent of sprawl. If any community needs to be regulated, its the LA Basin. Not sure how it will play out, but I think when you’re as far gone as LA, you need legislation to curb the sprawl addiction.