Discussion for article #238185
I donât think it is fair to pin this on the suburbs so much as change in general. Canât we find similar nostalgia throughout human development? Maybe the first villagers longed for the simplicity of living in trees.
1 Like
Conservative case? or Conservationist case???
3 Likes
Many Millennials find the suburbs boring and far from any action. Many are moving to the cities to be part of a community. That is what is going on in Detroit Michigan.
2 Likes
Yes, and there is a movement called New Urbanism that seeks to connect places for living, work, commerce and play by creating compact, walkable spaces that allow people and various land uses to connect and co-existâŠ
2 Likes
Are there any facts or evidence to support the authorâs sweeping generalizations? Any studies? Does the author have any proposed solutions?
Methinks the author needs to stop moaning about a lack of cohesive community and get out more.
3 Likes
The Chuck Marohn case is that the suburbs are a result of government policy. Until WWII humans built towns the same way from the beginning of civilization. After the war that was profoundly changed after we placed a new priority on providing ample parking and building big highways, even at the residential level.
This required big public outlays and borrowing because even the dumpiest, most degraded traditional town produces more tax revenue per acre than the seemingly prosperous suburbs. Suburbs have huge infrastructure costs and smaller tax bases than towns and cities. These costs are carried by federal and state highway and other subsidies. So the suburbs would be impossible without government intervention. All of this new infrastructure requires massive maintenance outlays, which we appear unwilling to make, thus the infrastructure crisis.
It is interesting to see a small but growing debate between conservatives like Marohn at www.strongtowns.org and www.theamericanconservative.com on one side and people like the Cato Instituteâs Randall OâToole, who equates the suburbs and single occupancy vehicles with liberty and Americanism.
6 Likes
Mr. Scott Beauchamp, you can live your life as a city rat if so you please, I wouldnât change my peaceful home in the suburbs for any city in the world.
1 Like
Conservatives of the Right Wing BigMoney type love suburbia. Debt incumbent home owners donât go on strike. People living in low density homes spaced far apart donât congregate at the neighborhood pub and conspire to march on the establishment to get more consideration directed towards their wants and needs.
Funneling the masses out into the suburbs vastly reduce the chances of the rabble taking over the ship.
4 Likes
Good examination of the sterile "inhumanâ elements of suburbia, but I donât think the article has anything to do with contemporary conservatism. Suburbs are the 1950s response to the automobile, a rapidly expanding population after WWII, and to the white flight that resulted from the desegregation of schools after Brown v. Board. Like most boomers and children since I was raised in one of them, and live in one of them now. They are miserable places to live if you like to walk and get to know your neighbors. The newer ones never seem to develop a distinct identity. They arenât really fit places for people to live but they seem to be all we have.
4 Likes
I just remembered something from years ago. I represented a very âprogressiveâ developer who wanted to build a complete community with various levels of housing and amenities for people of all ages and abilities. His plan included low and middle cost housing, which he envisioned as being attractive to the elderly and people working at small shopping âcentersâ scattered throughout the development. He planned schools and parks within walking distance of every home. His big mistake was starting with upscale middle class housing around a lake. The newly minted homeowners association got wind of his full plan and spent the next 10 years doing everything in its power to destroy his vision which was really quite attractive. In the end the HOA won and had the large suburb exclusively composed of upper middle class housing they wanted. The residents had to drive miles to shop or go to school. The parks became lots along the way. Of course, there was no low or middle cost housing so mom and dad couldnât live nearby. Donât blame developers. Sometimes small minded middle class people get what they want.
3 Likes
Since when have most âconservativesâ shown much compassion for actual people - living people not unborn people or dead and buried people? Some suburbs may or may not be âsoullessâ, but the whole idea of âsoulsâ is religious nonsense to begin with. When conservatives start showing concern for the ridiculously low wages people are forced to work for by modern corporations, then it may be time at least to notice their bellyaching about suburbs.
The main concern of the modern conservative - as well as most historical conservatives - has always been for the private property rights of the wealthiest people. Unfortunately, in their eyes, suburbs are often built on large acreages that previously belonged to the very wealthy. What a shame (conservatives think) that the beauty of a place in the countryside is no longer affordable solely by the very rich.
And speaking of unborn people, if conservatives actually gave a shit about them, they would be hugely concerned about climate change.
1 Like
WTF? I feel brain-farted on.
Is this a movie review? A critique of conservatism? A critique of ⊠something that got edited out of the final version maybe?
Strange, strange article.
2 Likes
Suburbs are soul-destroying faux communities. I physically shudder at being in them-and I grew up in them! Tremendous wastes of space and energy. Go to any one of a thousand of them and its as if they are all the same. They breed group-think under a veneer of âindividualityâ, or, individuality as prepackaged âquirkynessâ.
Yeah, cities (i. e. human ant colonies) are so much less group-thinky. Humans like living in herds, so large herds must be better, right?
1 Like
Some developers have successfully executed on that vision, e.g., The Woodlands, TX. Despite regular grumbling about developer greed and âitâs not what it used to be,â it is a robust, fully functional community with almost nothing in common with the depressing example in âPoltergeist.â
âŠand an even better movement Lean Urbanism
The Disneyfication of Detroit. Similar to the Disneyfication of New Orleans after a different sort of disaster.
If you believe Barbara Bush, itâs all for the best.
You are catching some backlash from a talk I heard from a Detroit News columnist who managed to discuss the ârecoveryâ of âDetroitâ without mentioning anything about anybody black.
1 Like
Yes, and this person was a partner in the Miami-based architectural firm Duany Plater-Zyberk and Co., along with his wife, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, that promoted the New Urbanism movement.
One of their New Urbanism demonstration projects was the planned community of Seaside, Florida.
Plater-Zyberk has been dean of the University of Miamiâs architecture school for the past 10 years.
There.