A couple of articles in the Times today featuring the environmental impact of the suburbs, and the possibility of uninventing them. One statistic highlighting the differences between suburban and city environmental impact is the emission of greenhouse gases produced by the average American (24.5 metric tons), versus the average New Yorker (7.1 metric tons).
The recent increased awareness of issues related to the environment is proving to have the potential to impact the perception and future production of the city (urban, suburban, exurban, etc...). It has taken something tangible (global warming and its consequences) rather than the intangibles that have traditionally framed the debate of the merits or demerits of suburban living, which have generally been found in the form of relative judgments decreeing the right or wrong of lifestyle choices. The immediate and easy actions taken to lessen one's environmental impact are found in compact fluorescents, smaller automobiles (maybe even hybrids), and recycling. Small things that add up, but are painless and don't require a dramatic lifestyle change. The question that should be posed is whether suburbanites are willing to accept radical lifestyle changes that have the potential of having a deep impact on greenhouse gas production, but would conversely alter the composition and make-up of housing development, or redevelopment, and deep ingrained ideas of what suburban living offers, or rewards those who choose that lifestyle. Given that the installation of clotheslines is forbidden in several neighborhoods (only poor people dry their clothes outdoors), it would seem the battle for change is nothing but uphill.
Rather than vilifying the suburbs, intellectual energy will need to be spent on both how to generate new development forged from productive agriculture land, and how to modify / alter existing suburbs. Either approach will require the buy-off of those who believe it is their God-given right to their own (brand new) single-family detached home surrounded with green lawn with enough spatial and visual separation from those who are different from them, and a radically rethinking of how to approach existing suburbs, how they are zoned, how land is parceled, and how building on this land is approached in the future. This has the potential to have the biggest impact - though it will take the most time.
Don’t Let the Green Grass Fool You [NY Times]
Can We Uninvent Suburbia? [NY Times]
