Urban planning's future: people, not cars
History suggests gas-powered transport cannot last
By Arrol Gellner, Thursday, August 28, 2008.What's an architect doing writing about cars, anyway?
I always get indignant e-mails asking me this whenever I criticize some aspect of our autocentric society -- whether it's our parking-obsessed city planning, our mania for fruitless road widening and freeway building, or our laughably primitive traffic control systems.
The answer is simple. We inhabit an era -- a very fleeting one, in historical terms -- that's all but predicated on the automobile. Hence, architecture and cars are as inextricably linked for modern builders as architecture and defense were for the castle builders of the Middle Ages. You simply can't design on an urban scale without cars being an integral and often overriding element of what you're planning.
To see how inseparable the automobile is from contemporary design, stroll down most any suburban street, where the most prominent design feature will be a phalanx of garage doors in all shapes and sizes. Or take a look at your typical shopping mall -- an inward-looking huddle of buildings adrift in a vast sea of parking spaces. Talk about the tail wagging the dog.
Municipal zoning codes have institutionalized the fact that cars rule the land, because parking requirements quite often dictate all other aspects of a project. There are exceptions, of course. A few audaciously forward-looking cities have actually made their downtowns less car-friendly in order to encourage other kinds of locomotion, including -- gasp! -- people using their own two feet. Yet for the most part, city planners have meekly and uncritically knuckled under to the assumed primacy of the automobile.
That's a pity, because cars in their present form are no more a permanent fixture of our built environment than were the oxcart, the chariot, or the horse and buggy. We happen to live in the historical apogee of the internal-combustion automobile, but even the smallest degree of historical perspective makes plain that it's merely a temporary visitor -- and an increasingly troublesome one -- on planet Earth.
Now, for those staunch car defenders getting ready to fire off e-mails calling me a deluded idealist, a car hater or a clueless academic -- don't bother. The fact is I've been an incurable gearhead since childhood. I can still happily spend a long evening jabbering about cam grinds and axle ratios with my car-crazy buddies, and I still own a number of Detroit's most venerable old gas guzzlers in honor of a grand old era that's now passed into history. If anything, though, this personal obsession makes it all the more obvious to me that our autocentric society, and the vast traffic and petroleum supply infrastructure that goes along with it, will one day be no more than a curiosity to future historians.
What does that mean for us today? For one thing, it suggests we shouldn't regard our cars -- not to speak of the oil they run on -- as the be-all and end-all of American society. We should also recognize that history has a way of casually demolishing institutions that seem impregnable, and the internal combustion automobile is surely one of these. Something better, simpler and kinder to the earth is no doubt on the way, assuming that we're smart enough to welcome it.
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Submitted by Robin Taylor Roth, PhD, CMQ/OE on August 29, 2008 - 8:41am.
Wonderful to see someone looking to the future! We see evidence that you may be right in the rising popularity of the "walkability" index.
One hopes that additional transit options will become available quickly. Enabling people now "trapped" in creatively constructed suburban developments to access essential services, without using automobiles, will be an ongoing challenge for the next few decades. Will we continue to go to the services? Or will the services come to us?
And how about the workplace, in this reduced-automobile society? Many of us have enjoyed telecommuting - at least some of the time - for years. Economic reports indicate that telecommuting and 'remote' employment are, indeed, on the rise. Will other, low-auto-use employment options become more prevalent, too?
It will be interesting to see how the trends develop.
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Submitted by Paul Deering on September 4, 2008 - 10:32am.
I'm all for it - but who's going to figure out how to beat suburbia as a concept when you think about the day-to-day needs of families with children. The list is endless: safe (means private) play area outdoors, parent shopping weekly with kids in tow (many re-usable bags), parks nearby (send your 8 yr. old on a bike), store your boat (or 5 bikes or 2 kayaks or 2 windsurfers & garage the vehicle that moves them), garage-like space for hobby/shop projects, gardening space (and light to it), space for pool or hot tub, outdoor space for pets (how big a dog?), schools with outdoor play space, etc.
One of the problems being faced in LA during the current revitalization of old office building space into housing downtown is that most of these kinds of features of suburban living are not there. Families are going to look for them when they choose where to live. There is a long history of idealistic college graduates choosing to live in urban areas right up until they realize that their first child has nowhere safe to play outdoors while mommy or daddy gets something done in the house. Even a stay-at-home mom or dad cannot always take all the kids to a park (and we don't want to encourage more indoor "play".
And add to this the problem of empty nesters staying in their big suburban houses. Many hang onto their houses so their kids and grand-kids will have a place to come stay and play. They know that a loft with a small kitchen and balcony means the kids stay in a hotel and visit for a meal or two - and they won't be able to bring their dog.
Just some thoughts.
Submitted by stephen atkinson on June 28, 2010 - 7:20am.
Many UK cities can be tricky to negotiate and have varied parking provision, but are also served by Park and Ride bus services, which allow you to park just outside the city and take a bus to its centre. Likewise, many of the UK's more modern landmarks and attractions - such as the Eden Project in St Austell, Cornwall - provide ample parking and run shuttle buses to the main attraction. With so much of the British countryside to explore, cheap UK car hire will enable you to make the most of your visit.
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Submitted by Gagan nagar on September 8, 2010 - 4:20am.
And add to this the problem of empty nesters staying in their big suburban houses. Many hang onto their houses so their kids and grand-kids will have a place to come stay and play. They know that a loft with a small kitchen and balcony means the kids stay in a hotel and visit for a meal or two - and they won't be able to bring their dog.
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Submitted by sagir khan on September 8, 2010 - 5:33am.
Many UK cities can be tricky to negotiate and have varied parking provision, but are also served by Park and Ride bus services, which allow you to park just outside the city and take a bus to its centre. Likewise, many of the UK's more modern landmarks and attractions - such as the Eden Project in St Austell, Cornwall - provide ample parking and run shuttle buses to the main attraction. With so much of the British countryside to explore, cheap UK car hire will enable you to make the most of your visit.
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