The End of Suburbia and the end of Cheap Oil

Nipping into Osaka yester evening, I watched what might be called a documentary entitled "The end of Suburbia". Finding the roots of sprawl, sprawl which consumes former croplands, sprawl which we all confess is ugly on the eyes. One good point the film made was that the trend to commute to and from bedroom communities stems from the industrialization, and hence, dirtying, of downtown sectors by industrial noise, smog and various other nastiness.

But being one who sort of lived in the unincorporated sector of an American county overrun with suburbs, I'd have to say I don't like suburbs either. Here are some reasons for this.

One, suburb kids tend to be punks. Since their parents are often not around (vying for the best lane in amongst the gridlock) the said parental units tend to compensate their brood with stuff. This stuff tends to be purchased at mega-mega shops like Wal-Mart. These suburb punks, with nothing better to occupy their unsupervised afternoons, tend to see the world as a system of birthright, and utter jealousy results when the neighbor's little Johnny gets a big wheel for his birthday. Johnny's gang of up and coming punks thus all request (persuasively) a Big Wheel and soon one finds a roving pack of these Big Wheelers wreaking havoc on these perfectly designed planned communities.

Two, suburbs attract strip malls. These beaus tend to feature gut bomb Chinese take-out, Cleaning for Dad's Rayon suits and a centerpiece grocer with names like "marketplace," or some other name invoking an image of the true countryside, which it surely isn't. Such places exist in my hometown, fanning outwards toward oblivion, with names like Beaverton, Tigard, Sunny Valley, Happy Valley and even the Arabic-sounding Damascus. While green and full of great gardens, they do tend to offer arcetecture that is, well chotto... cookie cutter.


Solutions to this problem, both from the film and my discombooberated frontal lobe include:

1. Planned communities which combine pederstrian lifestyle with safe, clean, communities. Of course many cities are accomplishing this by redeveloping their downtowns. One big stumbling block there, however is real estate prices are often out of reach for the average couple.

2. Government intervention to build smaller cars. A very idealist, but important point to impliment. The buzz word these days is conserving energy, but with minimal entry into complex princibles of Physics, it is more about FUEL consumption. The rate of fuel consumption needs to be reduced. Thinner people, more hybrid cars and shorting commuting distance all reduce fuel usage

3. Try to find an honest politician or two. There are SO many good, cutting edge ideas out there, floating around waiting to be listened to and have some good done with them.

4. Any suggestions of your own?