June 25, 2007: Peak Suburbia.
I get lots of letters from people in various corners of the nation who are hysterically disturbed by the continuing spectacle of suburban development. But instead of joining in their hand-wringing, I reply by stating my serene conviction that we are at the end of the cycle -- and by that I mean the grand meta-cycle of the suburban project as a whole. It's over. Whatever you see out there now is pretty much what we're going to be stuck with. The remaining things under construction are the last twitchings of a dying organism ...
... The implication in all this is that the activities that have become "normal" for us during the post World War Two era will very shortly become untenable. An economy based on suburban expansion and incessant motoring is on the top of the list of supposedly "normal" activities that will not be able to continue. I would maintain that even if we had 20 years, no combination of bio-fuels and other alternatives would enable us to keep suburbia running. But this latest work indicates that we have much less time to adjust.
This new information is consistent with my view that we had better prepare to make other arrangements for living in this country, by which I mean specifically re-localizing, de-globalizing, with an emphasis on local agriculture wherever possible, the emergency restoration of passenger railroad service and related modes of public transit, the rebuilding of local commercial infrastructures, and a radical rethinking of how we inhabit the landscape under New Urbanist lines.
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For previous chronicles, visit Clusterfuck Nation Archives; the author's main web site is here: http://www.kunstler.com/.
8 comments:
I hope when my son is in high school they will study the post WWII suburban march of a fuel-addicted nation as a cautionary tale of self-destructiveness of addicts. We'll be over the war-on-drugs by then so we'll need a new war to. hee-hee
Speaking of destructive addictions on a grand scale, I am currently reading Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future by Jeff Goodell (paperback 2007). This book is a sobering exposé on the coal industry and makes clear why turning back to coal is a very bad idea (despite political propaganda to the contrary).
Who is John Galt?
And as we speak, the Developer Mr. Ruckman is trying to buy up all kinds of property up the E Riley Road area.
We see surburban sprawl in New Albany just taking off...
Only our opinions...based on sewer information.
Mr. ruckman also owns 265 homes in the fringe area that was proposed to be annexed at the last council meeting. this is being done so that a sewer line can be run to his homes. Ruckman's attorney--fifer. Sewer board attorney--fifer. Once again the citizens of NA are being asked to subsidize development in the county.This whole proposal is totally corrupt and everyone involved in it knowsit----but they have always been able to have their way before.
CM Coffey hinted at as much at the last meeting, alleging that the wording of the fringe ordinance would obligate the city to run a sewer line out, while everyone else in the room with the possible exception of the brain-dead Erika disagreed. When it came time to vote, and after the lengthy argument presented by Coffey, he passed on the 1st reading. Even his fellow Gang of Four members voted for it.
So, what gives?
Then we need to straighten out the "gang of four". I can only guarantee you 3 of 4 against same, next time...
Cautionary tale from the Times last week in an article about contaminated drinking water in Galway Ireland. Seems the city has been sprawl-crazy for 10+ years, annexing more and more suburban development in order to connect to the old city sewer system, but then, O-MI-GOD, the system can't handle the extra load because the government never made any INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS. Now everyone has to boil their water or get sick...ummm, sounds eerily familiar, 'cept we haven't reached the poisoned water phase, yet.
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