The premise of Superbia! is simple: though it would be nice to move to a small town where the sidewalks lead from houses to ice cream parlor, an old restored neighborhood where trees protect and shade pedestrians, or a co-housing development where neighbors share equipment, meals, and gardens, the reality is that most people live in suburbs dominated by the demands of private space and the automobile (which, if you think about it, are the same thing: the car is private space). What can be done to make the suburbs we have more livable? Co-authors David Wann and Dan Chiras teamed up with Mother Earth News to answer that very question.
Though the subtitle, "31 ways to create sustainable neighborhoods" might suggest, with its allusion to Baskin-Robbins, a smorgasbord of offerings, the authors suggest something a little more like a method than a menu. Significant structural change - the way streets are used, the creation of common space like gardens or buildings - is accomplished after a sizable pile of social capital has been amassed. In other words, people have to function as a neighborhood before the neighborhood can be changed. To that end, the reader is encouraged to gather people around common needs - food, child care, hobbies, challenges - and to communicate. Who knows what might happen when one person takes the initiative to gather neighbors, and then hold up the mirror of a newsletter long enough for those gathered to begin feeling the startling rebirth of the word "us"?
This is grass roots political action, plain and simple. Though the authors maintain a consistently upbeat and motivational tone, there are some dark realities to contend with; and the only weapon that is effective against these is the clearly stated will of the people. One of these realities is zoning laws. Our streets are the width of canyons for a reason. The same reason has placed the grocery store down the road three miles, at the intersection of two four-lane roads. Even though these codes are proving to be the destruction of social fabric, we have no other laws in place yet; to override them takes some political momentum. Another is human nature. No matter how benevolent the dictator, most people resent someone else coming in and changing things. In order to get changes made that have a hope of lasting, neighbors have to feel like they are the ones making the change. A third is individualism, that tendency of American life and policy to be tilted toward the rights of the individual. Though the safest route from houses to ice cream may be along a residential fence line, good luck getting that access without the owner's consent.
[A little aside, for those who have noted that ice cream pops up frequently here, even though I'm writing in January: see the next blog.]
In other words, it's a long, winding process with no guarantees. By showing us pictures of the way things are and the way things could be, Superbia! hopes to fuel us for the journey. Some things that I found fueling:
- the underlying assumption that being involved with your neighbors is rewarding, regardless of the long term accomplishments;
- the application of human scale to design - the principle, for instance, that neighborhood elements should be no farther than 450 feet apart, the maximum distance at which we recognize people;
- the consistent emphasis that the way we are doing things now is difficult and/or expensive, as well as lonely; and that good neighborhood design saves time and money, and reintroduces us to other people - some of whom are very good at the things we find impossible;
- the possiblity of becoming a citizen planner;
- pictures of what others have done, and extensive resources for pursuing the ideas presented.
No comments:
Post a Comment