The one hope we still have is that the new crop of architects and planners will continue to promote sustainable "new urbanism" which is sort of sweeping the profession these days.
"Sort of sweeping the profession" is an overstatement. The greater majority of architects, planners, and engineers do not subscribe to sustainable, environmentally-friendly structures, practices, plans or infrastructures. I worked for a large engineering firm for two years and it was an environmentalist's nightmare the discussions that went on in the formal meetings and lunchroom chatter.
Added to that, homeowners themselves can help, by gently and enthusiastically suggesting more sustainable choices for their neighborhoods.
Well, I don't know about your side of the Commonwealth, but that kind of talk around here is in the distinct minority. ConComs are widely disparaged by the general populace, and only a small core group support their efforts to hold off rampant development.
A sustainable community translates directly into a healthier, more self-sufficient, and less expensive community! Who wouldn't want that?
Yeah, well, you know that and I know that, but the majority of the American homeowners don't give a tinker's dam. They want their cheap goods and food from Walmart and their unnaturally green, weed-free lawn. And they don't care what impact it has on our economy or our environment. They really don't care. I talk to a lot of people of all kinds of economic strata, and this is what I am hearing from them.
Really, I think the only stumbling block out there is our obsession with "normalcy" . . . They'll fight for their normalness, because they fear being cast out of society more than anything else.
It's the biggest stumbling block we've got, because it is huge and pervasive and is ingrained into the general populace from early childhood. It will take generations to change perceptions and long-held beliefs; only catastropic events change minds and behaviours quickly.
Once the planners and the public decide that sustainable is good, then the developers will built it, since they really don't care what they sell, as long as it makes them lots of money.
But unless sustainable also becomes cheap (or unless that catastrophic event happens) then the changeover will take a long time. It's like the big promise of solar energy; when I was a kid, we were all promised cheap solar panels "in another ten or twenty years". Well, it's more than twenty years later and solar array installation is still very much out of reach, fiscally, for middle class people like me. Even with the rebates and subsidies, I can't afford a damned grid-tied solar array without some sort of further assistance. I really hope I can somehow find that further assistance.
I know I sound like an old grump, and I am definitely grumpy sometimes, but I'm also a realist. I still do believe in the good fight, though . . .
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timeasmymeasure
Re: New Urbanism
Date: 2005-08-01 04:49 pm (UTC)"Sort of sweeping the profession" is an overstatement. The greater majority of architects, planners, and engineers do not subscribe to sustainable, environmentally-friendly structures, practices, plans or infrastructures. I worked for a large engineering firm for two years and it was an environmentalist's nightmare the discussions that went on in the formal meetings and lunchroom chatter.
Well, I don't know about your side of the Commonwealth, but that kind of talk around here is in the distinct minority. ConComs are widely disparaged by the general populace, and only a small core group support their efforts to hold off rampant development.
Yeah, well, you know that and I know that, but the majority of the American homeowners don't give a tinker's dam. They want their cheap goods and food from Walmart and their unnaturally green, weed-free lawn. And they don't care what impact it has on our economy or our environment. They really don't care. I talk to a lot of people of all kinds of economic strata, and this is what I am hearing from them.
It's the biggest stumbling block we've got, because it is huge and pervasive and is ingrained into the general populace from early childhood. It will take generations to change perceptions and long-held beliefs; only catastropic events change minds and behaviours quickly.
But unless sustainable also becomes cheap (or unless that catastrophic event happens) then the changeover will take a long time. It's like the big promise of solar energy; when I was a kid, we were all promised cheap solar panels "in another ten or twenty years". Well, it's more than twenty years later and solar array installation is still very much out of reach, fiscally, for middle class people like me. Even with the rebates and subsidies, I can't afford a damned grid-tied solar array without some sort of further assistance. I really hope I can somehow find that further assistance.
I know I sound like an old grump, and I am definitely grumpy sometimes, but I'm also a realist. I still do believe in the good fight, though . . .