The Oil Drum

116 comments on DrumBeat: January 7, 2007

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LevinK on January 7, 2007 - 1:21pm

Yes I wholeheartedly agree with that. The usage of cars as a primary mode of transportation is the root of all evil - and depletion of resources is just one of, not even the most acute one IMO.

Notice that the Irish article ends with a notice from Praga's tram system. When I was back to my home city - Sofia, I was saddened to see it becoming much more like Dublin than the way it used to be - a compact, walkable and mass transit oriented city like Praga. Now it is increasingly becoming the typical polluted and gridlocked nightmare we are talking here.

IMO urban sprawl and the related problems are all a result of an unadequate public policy. During the socialism we managed to build compact and well served cities, where the car was a complementary instead of mandatory mode of transportation because of the ability of the govts to plan the cities around mass transit. Now in US and increasingly in EU the government "follows" urban development - e.g. building roads "on demand". This acts as nothing but putting temporary quick fixes to the problem, which last no longer than the next election. Government's retreat from city planning is resulting in the fast depletion of the "commons" by the private sector - in this case the commons being mass transit, affordable downtowns, walkable neighbourhoods etc. The results are obvious and will show up to be devastating in the near future, IMO.

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urbanize on January 7, 2007 - 4:40pm

government "follows" urban development

I wish I fully understood how true that statement is before investing in degrees in architecture and urban design. The problems are generally understood within academia, but the lack of public policy and government leadership means that these planning oriented professions are effectively owned by the developers. This makes it extremely difficult to actually practice without being part of the problem. No meaningful movement is likely to originate from this profession despite the heroic efforts of some. Those that understand the issues simply are not empowered.

Long-range planing and capitalism (as we are now practicing it) don't seem to coexist well and few professions drive this home like land use planing and urban design. I changed professions early on to avoid being part of the problem and still live a satisfying life. As public officials have withdrawn from reconciling community interests with development, and have instead taken on roles as advocates for developers, I have come to see a growing tension between present day capitalism and the common good. We all play a small role in how public policy issues are prioritized and how long term thinking figures into it, but I have no clue what to do about it in the current climate (no pun intended).