The suburbanization of the United States post WW II is a defining trend that continues to this very day. The sight of a new housing development, with wide boulevards lined with trees all of the same height and width, driveways every few dozen yards leading to cookie cutter houses with a nice front lawn and porch, and a two car garage, sends families from Connecticut to California into raptures at the open space to play, relax and enjoy life. Men start thinking about the riding lawn mower and gas grill that they plan to buy - women about the granite countertop and color of curtains, while the kids fight over who gets the bigger of the two bedrooms. On moving in day, a huge truck shows up and promptly disgorges vast quantities of furniture, clothes and other "essentials" which get crammed into every nook and cranny available. And if there is any space leftover, you can be sure that the giant mall, a convenient 15 minute drive away, will be able to provide plenty of opportunities to shop away the vacuum.
If you think this is too stereotypical, it probably is - but there is no denying the fact that this is very much the dominant paradigm in the US today (and, by extension, is somewhat of the benchmark to which developing countries like China and India aspire!) But it wasn't always like this - as little as 70 years ago, there was nothing like a "suburb" anywhere, and cities and towns were compact units that were all built to enable people to walk around. If you venture into the downtown of most US cities (assuming you feel safe enough to go there), you will still see evidence of the high density living that characterized most human settlements from the time of the first cities in Babylon.
The change came about in the late 1940s when Joseph Levitt decided to develop a new "concept" in urban living whose template differed considerably from the model of the day - high density was replaced by low density, people suddenly had more space to "spread out" and thus was born Levittown, on Long Island. The popularity of this concept spread rapidly, likely fueled by the fact that after 6 years of war rationing and deprivation of most conveniences, people were eager to grab onto anything that gave the promise of a better life. Very soon, Levittowns were springing up all across the country, first in the east and then all the way across to the west coast. The movement of people (mostly whites) from the cities to the suburbs started as a trickle and quickly became a deluge - and at the time, it led to the biggest explosion of consumer products as convenience (and, to some extent, luxury) quickly became a base expectation. Almost thirty years later, the once vibrant inner cities had decayed and become synonymous with gang violence, drug addiction and minority occupied ghettos.
The automobile and cheap energy played a crucial role in accelerating this rapid suburbanization - distance was no longer measured in miles, but in the number of minutes it would take you drive from point A to B. Even today, most Americans would probably not be able to tell you the distance to the nearest mall or restaurant - it is more likely to be referred to as a "15 minute drive away". Even the oil shocks of the 1970s did not halt this shift - because the thought of not having all this cheap energy was almost unthinkable, and the minute the oil price collapsed, the collective memory was wiped clean and people went back to business as usual.
But it's a different story today. The prospect of climate change, which was not even on the radar in the early 1980s, is a very real threat, even if no one can seem to agree on how much of it is directly attributed to humans. This is driving new behaviors such as people choosing to shop for local produce, driving smaller, more fuel efficient cars and paying more attention to their overall environmental footprint. Increasingly, the "McMansion" is seen as evidence of wasteful profligacy and less as a sign of "having arrived". Suburban living is increasingly becoming linked to the ubiquitous sign at the entrance to every planned development - a "Dead End".
But rather than despair and wring hands, let's look to the same solution that was implemented in coming up with suburbanization - namely, focus on community development that is more urban in nature. Reduce house sizes, have more pedestrian friendly communities, with less emphasis on creating parking lots and more on tot lots. In short - a new Levittown that embraces all the positive attributes that we want to see from an environmental friendly, low energy consuming lifestyle. In this new Levittown, people would walk distances of upto a mile (15 or so minutes), and this would allow them to access at least 75% of all places they would typically go to - shopping, restaurants, libraries, museums, parks, gyms etc. The remaining 25% could be accessed by mass transit such as buses or trams/light rail. Houses would be energy efficient and harvest rain water - they would incorporate solar panels and LED lighting, water pipes would be insulated. Supplemental energy would come from a biomass or waste to energy plant, and there would be wind turbines a short distance away.
If you're wondering if this is all science fiction, consider this - every image that has ever been drawn of a "future" society looks exactly as how I've described above. All of the elements of a low energy lifestyle are out there - it just takes someone to bring them all together and provide it at a competitive price. The latter will take care of itself when enough people sign up for an want to live in such a community - and why wouldn't they? The former is more difficult - the most likely candidate would be a land developer, or a home builder, but one only has to look at the junk that they design and call a house to recognize that it will be a long time before they come around. Change can only come from the outside - a new firm that is willing to take a chance at changing the world.
If you think this is too stereotypical, it probably is - but there is no denying the fact that this is very much the dominant paradigm in the US today (and, by extension, is somewhat of the benchmark to which developing countries like China and India aspire!) But it wasn't always like this - as little as 70 years ago, there was nothing like a "suburb" anywhere, and cities and towns were compact units that were all built to enable people to walk around. If you venture into the downtown of most US cities (assuming you feel safe enough to go there), you will still see evidence of the high density living that characterized most human settlements from the time of the first cities in Babylon.
The change came about in the late 1940s when Joseph Levitt decided to develop a new "concept" in urban living whose template differed considerably from the model of the day - high density was replaced by low density, people suddenly had more space to "spread out" and thus was born Levittown, on Long Island. The popularity of this concept spread rapidly, likely fueled by the fact that after 6 years of war rationing and deprivation of most conveniences, people were eager to grab onto anything that gave the promise of a better life. Very soon, Levittowns were springing up all across the country, first in the east and then all the way across to the west coast. The movement of people (mostly whites) from the cities to the suburbs started as a trickle and quickly became a deluge - and at the time, it led to the biggest explosion of consumer products as convenience (and, to some extent, luxury) quickly became a base expectation. Almost thirty years later, the once vibrant inner cities had decayed and become synonymous with gang violence, drug addiction and minority occupied ghettos.
The automobile and cheap energy played a crucial role in accelerating this rapid suburbanization - distance was no longer measured in miles, but in the number of minutes it would take you drive from point A to B. Even today, most Americans would probably not be able to tell you the distance to the nearest mall or restaurant - it is more likely to be referred to as a "15 minute drive away". Even the oil shocks of the 1970s did not halt this shift - because the thought of not having all this cheap energy was almost unthinkable, and the minute the oil price collapsed, the collective memory was wiped clean and people went back to business as usual.
But it's a different story today. The prospect of climate change, which was not even on the radar in the early 1980s, is a very real threat, even if no one can seem to agree on how much of it is directly attributed to humans. This is driving new behaviors such as people choosing to shop for local produce, driving smaller, more fuel efficient cars and paying more attention to their overall environmental footprint. Increasingly, the "McMansion" is seen as evidence of wasteful profligacy and less as a sign of "having arrived". Suburban living is increasingly becoming linked to the ubiquitous sign at the entrance to every planned development - a "Dead End".
But rather than despair and wring hands, let's look to the same solution that was implemented in coming up with suburbanization - namely, focus on community development that is more urban in nature. Reduce house sizes, have more pedestrian friendly communities, with less emphasis on creating parking lots and more on tot lots. In short - a new Levittown that embraces all the positive attributes that we want to see from an environmental friendly, low energy consuming lifestyle. In this new Levittown, people would walk distances of upto a mile (15 or so minutes), and this would allow them to access at least 75% of all places they would typically go to - shopping, restaurants, libraries, museums, parks, gyms etc. The remaining 25% could be accessed by mass transit such as buses or trams/light rail. Houses would be energy efficient and harvest rain water - they would incorporate solar panels and LED lighting, water pipes would be insulated. Supplemental energy would come from a biomass or waste to energy plant, and there would be wind turbines a short distance away.
If you're wondering if this is all science fiction, consider this - every image that has ever been drawn of a "future" society looks exactly as how I've described above. All of the elements of a low energy lifestyle are out there - it just takes someone to bring them all together and provide it at a competitive price. The latter will take care of itself when enough people sign up for an want to live in such a community - and why wouldn't they? The former is more difficult - the most likely candidate would be a land developer, or a home builder, but one only has to look at the junk that they design and call a house to recognize that it will be a long time before they come around. Change can only come from the outside - a new firm that is willing to take a chance at changing the world.
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